The Art of Murder
by MistahWompah
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto, son of the Yondaime Hokage and the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero. Kidnap and assassination attempts were inevitable in his circumstances. After a kidnapping gone wrong, he finds himself lost without his memories but he is taken in by an eccentric samurai and masters the art of killing intent. Samurai Naruto, Older Naruto, Strong Naruto, Naruto is not a jinchuuriki.
1. Kidnapping and Meeting the master

**Right, this was a new idea that I just felt the urge to write. I haven't really seen a story like this so I decided to write it. THere will be a lot of OCs so I hope I can pull it off well. I might use lots of names from real life such us Hajime Saitou and such that have been depicted in anime like Rurouni kenshin and Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan. I will be using my own original versions of these characters. I don't own Naruto, blah blah blah.**

A small blonde boy stared out of the window apathetically. He had spiky but lazy blonde hair that almost spilled into his eyes, dark blue eyes and faint whisker marks on his chubby cheeks. This was Uzumaki Naruto, son of the Yondaime Hokage and his wife, Kushina Uzumaki. He was a strange boy. He was cheerful, but lazy. His intelligence was above average, but it was nothing amazing like his friend, Uchiha Itachi.

He was wearing an orange T-shirt and black was an awesome colour, it was annoying that his kaa-chan hated the colour. One day she would realise that orange was the best colour in the world.

He was five years old and for the most part he was like a regular five year old. He was a happy child and he was excitable. He managed to still be lazy somehow, though. Most children wanted to follow in their parent's footsteps, but Naruto was different. He didn't want to be a ninja. Still, he had a great enthusiasm for swords. He didn't know what he wanted to do with his life.

Maybe he could go to the moon? Or be one of those cool samurai! Swords were awesome!

He watched the pitter patter of the falling rain. It was so annoying! He wanted to go out and play! Puffing his cheeks out in annoyance, he crossed his arms. He sat still for a moment, before he hastily uncrossed his arms and stood up. He couldn't stay still for long. He looked around his room for something to do and his eyes lit up when he saw a story book that was left in the middle of his room.

He walked to it, a tentatively looked at its cover. _'Lost…' _he read in his mind. He turned it over to read the words on the back of it that told him the story before reading the actual book! How cool! _'Shiru... something is a happy little boy with a loving family. One day he goes on an ad…ad-ven-ture through the woods but he gets lost! How will he find his way home?' _Naruto read. He huffed. That was so silly! Who would get lost?

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The Raikage, a burly dark skinned man sat in his office with his fingers webbed together. He had blonde cornrows, intense beady black eyes and a small moustache and beard. His eyes were calculating as he looked at his two advisors. This was A, the Yondaime Raikage.

"So, you're saying that you haven't given up on obtaining a new Uzumaki for the village," he asked in his deep gravely voice.

"Yes, even though we failed to obtain Kushina Uzumaki, we have not given up. The strength of Uzumaki chakra is something that we cannot overlook. With two Bijuu we need to look for suitable containers once ours perish," they stated in a matter of fact tone.

"That's all well and nice but the only Uzumaki there is the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero and she is not an easy target to capture," A countered.

"Yes, but what if she had a child?" A's eyes widened. "The legacy of the Yondaime Hokage no less!"

"What!" A exclaimed.

"Exactly as you heard. I know we are not strong enough at the moment to face another war, but neither is Konoha. They wouldn't risk it… _yet_. Additionally, we can frame Iwa as it is the son of the Yondaime, pit the two countries against each other and when they weaken each other, we can establish ourselves as the strongest village in the elemental nations!"

A smirked. This was what Kumo needed and he would do anything for his village.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Naru-chan!" He heard his mother call. He hated being called Naru-chan! He was a big boy! Well, he tried to convince himself that that was the case, but he secretly loved it. He rushed down the stairs in a mad flurry and without noticing, barrelled into a leg as he got down there. Falling on to his rear, he looked up and saw his dad.

He had spikier blonde hair than Naruto and he had two bangs framing his face. He was wearing a standard blue bodysuit that was worn underneath the Konoha jounin outfits. He stared down at the young boy, his eyes dancing with amusement.

"What have I told you about running in the house, Naru-chan?" he tried to scold but he just couldn't when he saw the adorable pout on his son's face. Minato may be the yellow flash, the Yondaime Hokage, the strongest in Konoha, but his son could disarm him like a fresh genin. _'He must get it from his mother' _he thought fondly.

"But tou-chan!" he whined. Minato smiled and picked up Naruto on his shoulders.

"NARU-CHAN!" His mother called out again. She sounded angry… Kushina's impatience was scary. Minato gulped before disappearing in a yellow flash.

They arrived in the kitchen to see a heavily pregnant red haired woman. Her hair was flaring about in nine different strands and she looked furious.

"K-Kushina-chan…!" Minato stuttered.

"WHERE WERE YOU!" she exploded. Both Naruto and Minato flinched.

"Sorry!" they both squeaked in unison. Like father, like son. Kushina glared and hit Minato over the head. She gave Naruto a light bop. Minato glared at his son _'How comes he gets off so easily, she didn't even want me here!'_

Naruto didn't notice his father boring holes into him and simply rubbed his head in pain.

"Hmph! Well, you're here now. It's dinnertime!" She exclaimed happily, her personality doing a complete sniffed the air for a second, and his face lit up.

"RAMEN!" he called out, rushing away to wash up. A massive grin threatened to split his face. Ramen almost made up for the bad weather.

"What did I say about running!?" Minato yelled in exasperation. Well at least speed wouldn't be dying out in his family. He sighed and hugged his wife.

"Ramen, huh?" his lips quirked.

"Well, I had to treat my boys, didn't I?"

"Ramen is nice, but after dinner I have to get back to my Hokage duties," he almost whined. He was recognised as the strongest shinobi in the leaf… so why did he have to do paperwork?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

3 Kumo shinobi scouted the house. It was time for the plan to come into action. They were all wearing standard Iwa jounin uniforms. It was difficult to get into the village; post war security was very tight. They did manage to get in silently, though.

The Hokage was in his office, so the chances of success had just gone up. One man with a very forgettable appearance, brown hair, black eyes and a goatee, made some gestures with their hands. _'4 ANBU protecting the house. Do we take them out or do we leave them?' _He gestured with his hands.

'_Leave them' _the apparent leader gestured back. He had sandy blonde hair and stormy grey eyes. He gestured to them once again. _'Attacking them is too risky…' _They all nodded in their assessment.

'_Wait here and search for any holes in their patrol patterns. We don't have much time before we are noticed by the barrier teams_'

After 10 minutes, the captain gestured that they were ready to go. He went in alone. Grasping a brown bag, he rushed onto the property, feeling out the boy's chakra signature he rushed into his room. He spotted that he was sleeping. He tied up his mouth, making the boy's eyes shoot open. Naruto went to scream, but it was muffled. He was shoved into the brown bag and tossed over the man's shoulder. Rushing out of the compound silently, he nodded to his team and they hastily made their way out of their villages, hopping and jumping from roof to roof.

The ANBU guarding the Hokage's house noticed that somebody had bypassed the barriers of the house. The cat masked ANBU looked at the Eagle masked ANBU.

"The Hokage's son has been kidnapped. Report to him whilst we pursue," he said in a monotone voice. Eagle nodded silently and disappeared wordlessly. The ANBU team of three nodded to each other and went to pursue the kidnappers.

Eagle arrived at the Hokage's office to see him with one hand weaved through his blonde locks and he was writing with the other.

"Hokage-sama," he said in an urgent tone. "Your son has been kidnapped, an ANBU team is in pursuit. Orders?"

Minato's eyes popped out of his head. "WHAT!?" he schooled his emotions. "Sent another team to back them up, we must not let my son be taken," he said in an urgent tone. His face hardened. Nobody messes with Minato Namikaze's family. He couldn't tell Kushina yet. She would demand to go search herself and she was pregnant. No, he wouldn't let her hurt himself. He scolded himself internally, _'why didn't I put a hirashin tag on him?' _

Minato shook that thought out of his head. It wasn't time for self loathing. It was time to get his son back.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The ANBU team was in pursuit of the three kidnappers. They had to be careful of any kunai they threw; they couldn't hit the Hokage's son. Focusing on the two escorts, Cat launched a kunai that hit one Kumo jounin, not that they knew it on the back of the head.

His danger senses tingled and he replaced himself with a log as he tripped a wire. A barrage of kunai came at them. It killed the owl masked ANBU. Cat had replaced himself with a log that was in front of the Kumo jounin. Jumpind down with his Ninjato, he killed the second escort silently, but while he did that, a kunai buried itself in his back, making him fall to the forest floor. The tiger masked ANBU growled and sprang forward, fuelled by his emotions. Cat was his best friend!

He tackled the last Kumo jounin out of the tree he was jumping in and on to the ground. Naruto's form flew out of the man's grasp and crashed into the ground.

"Bastard," he snarled. He grabbed the kidnapper's tanto from his back and went to stab him. The disguised Kumo nin tried to guard with one of his hands, but it was futile because after a small struggle, he was stabbed in the face. Tiger grinned victoriously, but halted. He coughed and collapsed onto his opponent's body. There was a kunai buried in his stomach.

"…Fuck," he cursed. He was going to die. Shakily bringing his hand to his exposed ANBU tattoo, he touched it and his body went up in blue flames without a trace. He couldn't have anybody getting their hands on his body.

The brown bag shuffled a little and Naruto crawled out of it. His head was bleeding, but he didn't scream. His mouth was tied up anyway. He just held his head and stumbled into the forests, completely lost. He didn't take notice of the dead bodies.

"Where…?" he croaked out. "Who…?" he questioned himself. He walked further into the forest, engulfed by the shadows.

Surely he could find something?

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

A silver haired man sat underneath a tree, staring at a saucer of sake. His hair was cut into a pompadour style and he had small red rimmed glasses hanging off his nose. His face was thin and his chin pointed. He was wearing a purple haori with black fur trimmings. He wasn't wearing a shirt underneath it and on his legs he wore black hakama over traditional Japanese straw sandals and socks. He had a standard katana rested across his lap next to a wakizashi. He took a slow sip from the sake saucer.

He frowned.

Looking at it again, he took another sip. He frowned again. Grinning, he knocked the rest of the saucer back. He hastily poured another one and knocked it back again.

"This is taking too long," he huffed impatiently. He brought the sake bottle to his lips and knocked it all back in one. He burped and his face held a gleam of satisfaction.

"Groovy," he remarked He paused and frowned again. "Not groovy. I don't 'ave any more sake now… I s'pose that's why I'm 'ere," he grumbled.

Standing up and walking with a jaunty bounce, he went to find a path so he could get some sake.

"It's too hot," he pouted. "They need to get more sake in Iron country."

He had come all the way from his humble abode in the outskirts of Iron country to buy some more sake. He was a retired samurai for Iron country. He was only 35 but he decided to quit working for the country. Nothing really happened anyway and he hadn't fought any strong opponents in a long time. His name was Sasaki Ryo. One of the strongest – and most irresponsible- in Iron country.

His eyes hardened. That wouldn't be the case for long. He would need to pick his sword up again soon. Trouble in Iron country was brewing. The snow storms seemed colder and wilder. Things were becoming unsettled.

Iron country was a neutral country and had never been involved in any shinobi wars. That is not to say there were no problems in the country itself. Some people didn't like it. By not allying with any shinobi countries, their trading bonds were weaker and the country wasn't exactly a goldmine for crops.

The whole place was frozen over, they relied on other countries for trade. They had good mining areas and their metal production was top notch. There was no better place to get weapons made. This, however, prevented it from being completely isolated from the shinobi world as weapons were a must.

Some people in the country were not happy with the way Iron country was isolated. If they allied with shinobi countries, even though they would get involved in wars the country would prosper more. However the higher ups adamantly refused to be involved with any shinobi business unless it directly affected them. Sadly, the nation was divided in half on this matter and conflict seemed immanent.

Iron country was on the brink of civil war.

Sighing as he walked through the forest, he took in the scenery. Green leafs were floating like clods through the air, the air brushed his face gently and animals were living their day to day life. He smiled at the scene. Looking up he saw a bird fly to a nest and feed its children from its own mouth.

'_Eh, that's nice. Maybe it's time I get a student. I'm not getting any younger. It could be fun' _He thought softly. His eyes wandered downwards, but narrowed when he saw from the corner of his eye. He drew his katana and held it tilted downwards in his right hand with his left hand's finger tips softly touching the edge of the hilt. He followed it like a stalker, eyes peering around under his glasses for any signs of an ambush.

He followed it further and further and if he wasn't slightly tipsy (He could handle his alcohol really well) he would have noticed the scent of blood getting stronger.

He finally found the source of the blood after about five minutes of walking. Eyes widening as he saw a small blonde kid sitting at the base of a tree, he walked over there cautiously.

He took a good look at the kid. Blonde hair with some blood in it, a gag over his mouth. He had dark blue eyes that were staring at him in confusion. He looked lost. He was holding his head and dried blood was all down his arm.

Cutting the gag off the boy, he talked to him. "What're you doin' 'ere gaki?"

"I don't know…" Naruto replied in a raspy voice. He needed hydration. Ryo frowned.

"What's ya name, gaki?"

"Naruto… that's all I really remember," he frowned.

"Eh…? Forgetful gaki, ain'tcha Naruto-han?"

Naruto glared. "Shut up!" he pouted. Ryo smirked.

"Respect ya elders," he chastised.

"Pfffft… old man!" Naruto grumbled. Ryo's eyebrow twitched. For a brat that's injured to stay so cheeky… he liked him he grudgingly admitted.

"Ole man? I'm in my prime, like a fine wine… 'cept I'm not for pussies," He paused and looked wistfully at the sky. "Pussies are for me."

"Pussies?" Naruto repeated. Ryo snorted.

"Let's save that for 'nother time, eh gaki?" He said nervously. Not knowing what to say, Naruto just nodded. Ryo looked at the boy appraisingly. _'Time to test him'_

"Ya looking pretty hurt there. D'ya want me ta put ya out of ya misery, Naruto-han?" He said in a dangerously playful tone. He started to raise his sword.

"W-what?" Naruto stuttered. Why did this man's personality chance so suddenly?

"I said, D'ya want me ta kill ya, Naruto-han?" He repeated darkly.

Naruto paled. "No, n-no," he gulped. Ryo analysed the boy. He almost smiled when his blues eyes hardened. "I won't let you!" the blonde boy promised.

"Hahaha," Ryo laughed. Naruto looked at him questioningly. "HAHAHAHAHA!" he laughed out louder.

"What the hell is your problem, old man?" he fumed.

"It's just… HAHAHAHA," he broke out laughing again. Naruto glared harder. "I love that look in ya eyes. Come my student! We gotta go and get ya sorted out!"

"What!? Who said I was gonna be your student, dattebayo!"

"I did!" He looked at the boy. "S'not like ya have anywhere else ta go, do ya?"

"No, no I don't," Naruto agreed. Ryo swirled his sake bottle around. There was still a little bit left.

"Ya must be thirsty, 'ave this," he said, handing him the bottle. Naruto nodded and took it. He drank the contents in one gulp, and then started coughing.

"What the hell is this?"

"Sake, you don't drink it?" Ryo asked in genuine surprise. "Oh, you're like 4 or something of course you don't," he muttered but Naruto heard him.

"I'm five!"

"You're also a midget, your point?"

Naruto growled.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Hokage-sama, we arrived at the scene to find the kidnappers dead. However, so were our men and there was no trace of your son. I'm sorry," An ANBU said apologetically. "The kidnappers were seen wearing the standard jounin attire for Iwagakure shinobi, Hokage-sama,"

"Understood, dismissed," Minato said in a composed voice. His eyes were lacking the usual shine to them. As the ANBU nodded and left the room, he buried his arms into his arms. He'd lost his precious oldest son. What sort of father was he?

It was reassuring to find out that his kidnappers were dead, though. That meant that there was a chance that he wasn't being used as a weapon or breeding stock. He swore to find him. Over the past few days, Kushina was a wreck. So much so that it was getting dangerous for her baby that she was pregnant with. She hadn't eaten for a while and she was missing out on sleep. He couldn't blame her; he was no better.

He damned Iwa! Couldn't they just let go of their hatred? It was his fault! He put his family in danger. If he knew that this was what being Hokage meant he would have never taken the job. He had to sit there and do nothing whilst his child was missing. He couldn't get involved in the search, the village needed to stay strong.

He wouldn't come to a conclusion just yet, though. He would get the bodies analysed. He wasn't so dim as to not look underneath the underneath. That was what he taught his team after all.

He flashed home, finally letting his mask fall. Salty tears slid down his face. "AHHHHHHHH!" he screamed in frustration. He punched the wall and leant against it, sliding down and sobbing. War hardened shinobi he might be, a child was every loving parent's weakness. He looked up to see Kushina walking towards him.

"Kushina…" he said weakly. She looked completely dead, her eyes were dull and had bags underneath them.

"Minato-kun…" she said softly. "Don't worry, we'll find him. Let's carry on, for our daughter…" she said.

He cracked a small, unconvincing smile. "Yeah, we'll find him," he said, trying to convince himself. "I won't give up!"

"We can't find him if we're moping about. Let's eat," she said.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto was on Ryo's back. He was wearing a plain black coat and trousers that Ryo got for him on the way to his house. He got his wounds checked out by this nice lady that the old man knew her name was Haruka or something. She bandaged his head up. Apparently there was no lasting damage; he just had a case of amnesia.

Naruto looked at the place; it was a small place in the snowy mountains of Iron country. Naruto wondered how Ryo could take not wearing a shirt. In fact, Naruto wondered why the man wore such a funny outfit at all, what the hell was up with that?

"Welcome to my – and yours now I guess- humble abode," Ryo said majestically whilst waving his arms about. Naruto deadpanned. The man was so flamboy- what was the word? Flamboyant!

The place was small and traditional. On the outside it looked like a regular house, but on the inside, the doors were shoji doors and tatami flooring. There was a training dojo right next to it, it wasn't big obviously, but it was big enough. The whole place was plain, really.

Naruto couldn't help but notice how much sake the man had. He remembered that Ryo was on a journey to get sake, why the hell was he if he had so much already? He was a ridiculously confusing man and Naruto wanted to punch him.

"Cool," Naruto said.

"We'll be starting training… next week!"

"Why not now?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Because…." He said in a serious voice. "I can't be bothered!" he chirped. Naruto face vaulted.

"Lazy old man," he grumbled.

"Besides, who said you'd be doing anything that you should get excited for?" He asked with an evil glint in his eye.

Naruto could already feel his muscles ache and he hadn't even started yet.

**Well this was a new experience to write but I can see myself having fun wit this. Feel free to review ^_^**


	2. New beginnings

"Again!" Ryo called out lazily. He had a saucer of sake in one hand and he wasn't even looking at his student. He smashed the blonde boy on the head with a stick of a nonchalant flick of his wrist.

Naruto was wearing standard training gear. An orange training gi and black pants tucked into a pair of small black boots that kept the snow out of his feet.

"You're not even looking!" Naruto spat, soothing the bump on his head. It had been 4 months since Ryo had taken him in. They hadn't started to learn Ryo's sword style yet at all. The most Ryo had gotten him to do was swing a practice bokken around for physical exercise. But Naruto had to do it _right_. Naruto did agree with this sentiment, but how the hell was Ryo meant to know if he was doing it correctly if he wasn't even looking?

"I don't need ta," he retorted. Naruto almost growled. His master was so damn irresponsible! In the 4 months that he had lived with him, Ryo had been by far the most irresponsible idiot he had encountered. Well he hadn't encountered many people at all… especially after losing his memories. Still, accidentally giving a minor alcohol was not meant to be a regular occurrence.

"Irresponsible old man," Naruto muttered. Ryo heard it and hit the blonde over the head with the stick again.

"Respect ya' master! I could tell by the sound that you ain't doin' it right, brat!"

"How the hell can you do that?" Naruto replied in an irritated manner. Ryo pulled a smoke from his pocket and lit it up.

"Experience, now get goin', Blondie-chan," he muttered condescendingly. Naruto growled, but regardless went back to doing repetitive vertical slashes.

"Better," Ryo smirked with his eyes closed behind his glasses. "Ya ain't got many left ta go, only about 500 more."

"500?" Naruto replied incredulously. "Wasn't it 200?"

"I changed my mind," Ryo smirked. "You can take a lot, eh? Groovy!" he laughed. Naruto had to wonder whether his master had gone crazy. "I plan ta take full advantage a that!" He whipped out a set of traditional wrist weights. "Be lucky ya ain't wearing these… until tomorrow."

"Can't be that bad," Naruto said. His breaths were getting a bit more shallow, but he carried on regardless. His stamina was really something. Carrying on with his exercises, he thought back to the last 4 months of his life. Ryo was a taskmaster. He grilled him physically and mentally.

He played a lot of mental games with him. He made him do things that required him to do two or more things at once and think on the ball. Naruto couldn't help but wonder what it was for in his curious 5 year old mind. He had already figured out that Ryo didn't do things for no reason.

It wasn't because the man was wise or anything. It was because he was lazy.

He also had him improve his body's overall fitness. He only stated that 'He would need it,' and said no more. Naruto's was already surprisingly fit for his age, so heonly did basic exercises. Ryo forced him to get used to the climate. It was risky but it was necessary if he was going to survive in Iron country. He had him do exercises in his underwear. That was embarrassing… and dangerous.

Ryo cracked open an eye and took a glance at his student. He was proud of the boy. He had come far. He had been mentally preparing him for the sword style. The sword style he used was very unique compared to others. It required amazing mental and physical capacity. There were some chakra techniques such as illusions and elemental manipulation attacks but that was not the point of the style.

The style specialised in manipulation of killing intent or _sakki_.

Producing killing intent was natural for ninja and samurai. It was so natural that it was inevitable and every strike had some form of intent in it. The sword style, **Sakki-Ryuu**, specialised in making use of it. Reacting to intent was instinctive. When warriors 'follow their instincts' they are really using their sense of intent to fight. The user of the Sakki-Ryuu could mask his real movements with projected killer intent. This made it suicide to fight them up close because it was impossible for the opponent to rely on their instincts.

Ryo had made himself a legend with this style. Not so much in the shinobi world because he mainly stayed away from it. Sure he fought plenty of strong shinobi, but they did not live to spread his legend around. He was able to match up to samurai greats such as Mifune and fought in many samurai battles.

Samurai had never been involved in shinobi war, but there were Samurai wars. Iron country originally used to be two bordering samurai countries but after many border disputes and conflict between the two nations, there was eventually a war. A war that Iron country came out on top of and they united the two lands into one.

But that's a story for another time.

Ryo pushed bad memories out of his head and lost himself in thoughts of alcohol and women.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't notice his student collapse to his knees in exhaustion.

"Done…" he huffed.

"Eh, well groovy job, gaki," he complimented dismissively. Naruto was too tired to even care at this point so he just nodded. "I think that it's time for ya ta learn the art of the blade," Ryo commented with an oddly serious face. Naruto shakily looked up and gave him his attention.

"It's gonna be hard 'nd you're gonna suffer a lot. That's the beauty of kenjutsu, though. You suffer so hard in ya training only ta live a life full'a suffering that only strength can bring. It's a cruel yet beautiful irony…" Naruto was too entranced by Ryo's speech to let his tiredness overtake him.

"Make no mistake, gaki… It won't be fun. I'm teaching you the art of murder!"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

Minato sat in his office with his fist leant against his chin. It had been four months since his son had gone missing. Four agonising months. They had looked for him far and wide but couldn't find him. Jiraiya had been on the lookout for him but there was not a trace. Now Jiraiya had returned to the village temporarily for the birth of Kushina's youngest daughter.

After Naruto's kidnap, the village security had been stepped up even more and every precaution was taken to stop anything happening to the Hokage's second born. He had squads of ANBU prepared for Kushina's birth and Jiraiya with him. He wouldn't fail his family again!

These past few months had been rocky. They had tried their best to get over it, but Naruto was their son. They just couldn't get over a loss that massive in a few months. Combined with Kushina's pregnancy mood swings and Minato's stress, the loss of their first born strained their relationship harshly.

Minato felt a signature at the window of his office. Turning his head, he was greeted by his sensei, Jiraiya. He looked over the man; his spiky yet long white hair in a ponytail was almost comforting to Minato. This was the man who was just like a father to him. Who watched him grow from an above average genin to a strong ninja who was worthy of standing up there with the legends of the leaf.

"Hey, gaki," Jiraiya said with a grin that Minato could not help replicate.

"Jiraiya-sensei," Minato greeted. Jiraiya gave him a serious look.

"Any day now, Kushina is going to give birth. Are you ready?"

"Yes," he said with a fierce determination. "I won't fail my daughter like I failed my son. I won't take any risks… that's a promise." Jiraiya smiled proudly. His student really was a determined man.

"That's what I like to hear, gaki. Naruto is still alive. I know it. We'll find him."

"Yeah, we will," Minato said with conviction.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Kushina was walking down the street with Sarutobi Biwako. She felt the incessant chatter of the villages and let a small smile cross her face. She may have lost her son, but she now had a daughter to worry about. Her daughter wouldn't be a replacement for her son, but having somebody new to love was an exciting thought for Kushina.

She had not gotten over the loss of her first born and she probably wouldn't ever, even if she got him back. The feeling of helplessness and being a bad parent wouldn't ever leave her. She wished she could have done something even if it was unrealistic.

She had a gentle smile on her face as she looked around. She spotted a dark haired woman holding a baby and a young boy's hand. "Mikoto-chan!" She yelled making her elderly companion rub her temples. The woman stopped and gave the redhead a smile.

"Kushina, how nice to see you," she smiled. Kushina beamed back and took a look at the bundle in Mikoto's arms.

"Is that…?" she trailed off, giving an inquisitive look. Mikoto nodded.

"Yes, this is little Sasuke-kun, named after Sandaime-sama's grandfather," Mikoto said proudly. She tickled the boy a bit with her finger, making him gurgle cutely. Kushina nodded then cupped a hand over her mouth like she was divulging a secret.

"I'm pretty scared of giving birth a second time, dattebane!" she whispered. Mikoto laughed heartily.

"The great Kushina is afraid of something? I never thought I'd see the day!" she teased. Kushina huffed in irritation and turned her head to look at the small boy who was holding his mother's hand.

"You've grown Itachi-chan!" she exclaimed. Itachi kept his stoic visage and nodded stiffly.

"Thank you, Kushina-sama," he droned. She was about to reprimand him for calling her 'Kushina-sama' but was hastily pulled away from the boy by Biwako.

"We don't have time to mess around here," she scolded. "You were meant to be staying discreet, too. Let's go!" she said, pulling a protesting Kushina away.

"What a motor mouth," Biwako grumbled.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"This is harder than I expected it to be," a man wearing a hooded cloak over a white battle mask with zebra like stripes on it said. He had infiltrated the leaf in hopes of obtaining the kyuubi. A jinchuuriki's seal is always weakest during child birth and he intended to take full advantage of this fact.

He was going to obtain the kyuubi from Kushina Uzumaki once and for all. Then he could carry out his plans… or at least severely weaken the leaf trying. The trouble was, he did not expect the jinchuuriki to be so well guarded. He expected it to be a difficult task, but this was overkill.

Still, it was no problem for him. Warping into the room expecting to find the jinchuuriki and the Yondaime, he didn't take into account any other people other than the midwife being in the room. Appearing in a dark room, only lit by candles he saw the infant. Heh, he had the advantage if he had the child. He went to kill the pathetic old woman and take the baby, but was prevented s he was forced to turn intangible for a period of time. Watching as Jiraiya of the sannin appeared through his body with a rasengan in hand, his eyes widened underneath his mask. He couldn't handle two S-rank shinobi…

"How did he get in here without triggering the barrier?" Minato shouted. He was just about to reseal the kyuubi.

"Don't worry about that!" Jiraiya snapped. "Re-seal the kyuubi! I'll handle this."

Minato nodded wordlessly, he knew what needed to be done. Going back to resealing the kyuubi as he comforted Kushina with re-assuring words.

"Don't worry, Jiraiya-sensei can handle it!"

The masked man grabbed the elderly woman and held her hostage.

"Step away from the jinchuuriki or the old woman dies," the mask man said darkly.

"Don't!" Biwako yelled. She knew it would be bad if this man got his hands on the kyuubi. If it meant losing her life to stop it, then so be it.

"Foolish woman, be silent," he said, knocking her out. Jiraiya gritted his teeth. He had a hostage. He slipped a kunai from his sleeve and quickly threw it at tobi, aiming for the kill. His eyes widened as it went straight threw him. Tobi was about to say something, but he couldn't as he felt a ball being smashed into his back.

"Rasengan!" a voice called out from behind him and he was smashed from the back and implanted from the floor.

"Good thinking, Jiraiya sensei. Throwing a hiraishin kunai…"

"You think you have defeated me?" said a voice from a roughed up masked man. He growled internally. Damn that Minato! Ruining all his plans! He couldn't face off against two S-rank shinobi with no advantages.

"I'll be back…" he muttered ominously.

"You're too dangerous to leave alive. Do you think I'd just let you go?" Minato said. He appeared behind him in a flash, but his rasengan went straight through him.

"We'll meet again…" the masked man said as he disappeared from view.

"Wait!" Minato yelled but he was already gone.

"The only person who could control the kyuubi would be Uchiha Madara. Was that him?" Minato whispered to himself.

"Minato!" Jiraiya called. "You have to re-seal the kyuubi quickly," He yelled. Minato nodded and went back to the sealing.

"It's fine now… Kushi-chan," he whispered soothingly.

"Let… me hold Natsuko-chan," she pleaded. Minato nodded and gestured to Jiraiya. Jiraya picked up the infant gently and passed her to Minato.

Minato looked down at her and smiled lovingly. She had short red hair, attentive bright blue eyes and cute whiskers on her cheeks. Minato wanted to look at her more, but Kushina deserved to see her daughter too. Gently handing her over Kushina smiled and took her from her husband. A pretty smile was gracing her features as every trouble in her life was seemingly forgotten. She nuzzled her daughter, her sweaty red hair flailed around the surface she was laying on.

"Hey Natsuko-chan…" she smiled. "I'm your kaa-chan but I guess you already knew that," Kushina spoke. "I can tell by the way you're pulling my hair. Your Onii-chan did the same thing." She hugged her to her body. "I won't let you go, I promise," she murmured.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

Naruto looked at his master with a dull sense of anticipation that was completely overshadowed by a feeling of overwhelming foreboding. Ryo looked at his student intently taking sips out of his sake bottle. There was an awkward silence as Naruto waited for Ryo to say something.

"Shishou-,"

"Naruto," they both said each other's names at the same time. Ryo narrowed his eyes behind his glasses. Naruto looked at him inquisitively. Ryo gingerly held his sake bottle out to Naruto.

"Want some?" Ryo asked lazily.

"No." Naruto deadpanned. Seriously, what type of responsible adult gave a 5 year old alcohol? None. Ryo never claimed to be a responsible adult, though.

"That'sa shame. Its always best ta build up ya tolerance early, ya know?" He chided. " 'Sides its always best ta get wasted before ya get tortured…"

Naruto paled. "What do you mean?" He asked cautiously.

"Exactly what I said," Ryo said. "We're gonna be startin' your groovy training right now!"

"I can take it, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed punching his fist against his open palm with a determined look in his eyes.

Ryo laughed. It started off as a slow chuckle and it escalated into almost maniacal bellows. Naruto glared.

"What's so funny?"

Ryo choked. "I like that look in ya eyes, gaki! S'why I'm gonna wipe it off ya ugly mug!" he laughed.

"Just you watch old man. I'll finish your training so quick that even you'll be surprised and then I'll do more! You'll be so surprised that that look will be wiped off your face, dattebayo!"

Ryo smirked. "I'll hold ya ta that, eh!" He grinned ferally. "Let's get started!"

"YOSH!" Naruto exclaimed. Ryo saluted and vanished wordlessly.

"HEY! Where did you go!?" Naruto growled. His eyes widened when Ryo appeared in front of him again holding two buckets.

"Stand over there," he commanded in a lazy tone. Naruto blinked and stood off into the corner. "Take off your shirt," Ryo commanded again.

"Why? It's freezing!" Naruto protested. Ryo smirked.

"It's for the trainin'. Don't tell me ya chickenin' out already?"

"Like hell I am!" Naruto glared. He hastily shrugged off his orange training gi, exposing his skinny frame. Ryo took a look at it briefly. The boy was a twig. When he grew up he would probably never get big muscles… that wouldn't be a problem. He was fast, and that's what mattered at this point.

The boy's determination and stubbornness was admirable and amusing at the same time. It reminded Ryo of himself… before the war. Back when things were so easy and peaceful. Unfortunately Naruto would probably have to experience this hell, too. Well he wouldn't _have_ to. It wasn't mandatory that he did. But what he said to Naruto earlier was the truth.

No matter what he would choose, he would suffer. That was the curse of strength. If he did not get involved he would have to sit there doing nothing whilst others die for his beliefs and he had done nothing. If he did get involved, he would just suffer the pains of war.

When you gain strength… slowly the illusions of peace and harmony are hastily torn away from you. You can no longer live in the peace we have. How can you live in something that you know is not true? Something that is a mere fantasy? Ignorance is bliss… but it is also for the weak. When you become strong, you are exposed to the truth of this world.

Despair.

Hatred.

War.

Everything becomes so pessimistic, so dark. The weak wish to be strong, but the strong spend all their time reminiscing about the days when they were weak. It was pathetic, really. That's why it was so ironic…

He looked at his student solemnly. _'He's an innocent gaki… I wonder how long that'll last. I s'spose I should feel guilty about damning him to this fate… but that determination. It makes me think that he can handle it… that maybe one day he can make a difference. He has that aura about him,'_

Ryo shoved the buckets in Naruto's hands. Naruto's expression turned confused. "Hold these an' squat. Stay like that 'till I say so," Ryo instructed. Naruto nodded and did so.

"Groovy," Ryo remarked.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto's legs trembled and his body shivered wildly. He was sweating up a storm. Glaring his teacher the man smirked.

"Giving up?" he taunted.

"G-get… bent old g-geezer," Naruto strained out.

"Feisty one, ain'tcha. Well I think ya deserve a break!"

Naruto dropped the buckets and landed face first on to the ground.

"Lookin' kinda tired there," the silver haired man taunted.

"I'm… perfectly… fine," Naruto lied through huffs.

Ryo grinned. Who knew causing physical harm to five year olds was so much fun?

**Well, I just wanted to show the events of the kyuubi attack. I won't be following the events of the shinobi world for much longer. I hinted at where this story was going a lot in this chapter. I must admit, I really want to get into the action... but good things happen to those who wait. I will be skipping over Naruto's training for the most part. As for the pairing... it won't be a harem but there will be some Naruto x OC that is vital for his character development if nothing else. I've got no idea what the final pairing will be. I might go for the no pairings route or maybe an uncommon girl like Yugao. Who knows? **

**I hope you enjoyed the story. Feel free to review ^_^**


	3. New friends

**Three years later**

Two children walked along the snowy path leading up toward the mountain. They were wearing hooded cloaks to keep them warm and they were both about the same height. They must have both been about 10 years old. The blizzard was attacking them ferociously and they were stumbling a bit, probably from exhaustion. The sky was a pale white, with no clouds visible..

"How much longer, nee-chan?" A boy whined. The girl huffed and turned her head to him, glaring under her hood. You could see long royal blue hair flail out from underneath the hood.

"We'll be there soon, Keisuke," she grunted. "Stop whining!"

"But, nee-chan! It's so cold!"

"Man up!" She said bluntly and turned to face the path again. She gritted her teeth. They had been travelling for days now and neither of them had any energy. They were running on their last legs. The girl pulled her hood down and looked around with narrowed eyes.

She had pale skin that made her loo like a ghost. It wasn't a creamy pale, it looked borderline unhealthy. Her cheeks were round with baby fat. Her blue hair was just past shoulder length and she had red eyes and a small black pupil. Her eyebrows furrowed a little in the beginnings of a scowl.

"Why did you take your hood off, nee-chan?" the boy, Keisuke asked. She ignored him and looked up a little before putting her hood back on. Finally deciding to answer him, she carried on walking at a faster speed making him rush up to catch up, but trip in the process.

"Because… I couldn't see upwards. Get up, idiot, or you'll catch a cold and be even more useless," she said coldly. He hastily got up and brushed snow off his travelling cloak.

"So cruel…" he muttered. "Why do we even have to walk up here?" he moaned.

"You know why," she said, not sparing a glance at him. "The people around here said he was the strongest, so we're gonna ask him to teach us," she said resolutely.

"Couldn't we go somewhere that was more normal, like a dojo or something? The people sounded really… annoyed when they were talking about him," he pouted.

"Have you already forgotten, Keisuke? Do you not want to be strong? To be strong, we have to seek out the strongest. That's what tou-san said," she explained haughtily. "Plus, he can't be that bad if he's so strong, right? You don't become strong by being a complete idiot."

"Yeah but we're so far…! What if he doesn't help us?" He said doubtfully. The girl scowled at her brother, making him recoil.

"Then we'll make him…" She paused. "Or something like that. We'll find a way, no matter what."

He nodded shakily, no wanting to anger his sister anymore, not saying anything more, they carried on walking in silence. The snow was making their toes feel numb, the shower of delicate white flakes impeded their vision and the cold nipped at them like an annoying puppy. The walk was far from pleasant. Walking for another five minutes, they found a small house with a dojo outside of it.

"Is this it?" she whispered to herself. Pulling down her hood and sharing a meaningful glance with her brother, he did the same. It revealed wavy blue hair that fell into his red eyes, the same as his sister's. He looked at the ground as he walked, not glancing upwards for anything.

They walked up to the house and knocked. The girl was tapping her foot impatiently and Keisuke was nuzzling his foot into the ground nervously. His sister elbowed him in the ribs.

"Man up," she scolded. He looked away and nodded. Waiting for another minute or so, she was about to knock the door again, but it was opened by a silver haired man that had a pompadour hairstyle and red rimmed glasses on his nose. He had a cigarette hanging lazily between his teeth and wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Yo, she gaki and he gaki," he greeted, not opening his teeth, so his voice sounded a bit muffled. She gave him a flat stare. _'He doesn't look so strong' _she thought angrily. Keisuke bowed to the waist immediately whilst shaking. "What can I do for ya?

"Are you Sasaki Ryo?" The girl asked sceptically. The man nodded.

"That's me, gaki," he replied, pulling the cigarette from in between his teeth and then puffing on it.

"My name's not gaki, it's Setsuko," she revealed in annoyance. The man just shrugged tiredly like he had heard it a thousand times before… which he had. She growled at him and Keisuke kept on shaking. Ryo glanced at him.

"That's nice," he said, looking away. He saw Naruto behind him and nodded for him to come out. Naruto took a step so he was visible to the two other kids but didn't come any closer. He sat on the ground, leaning against the wall. He looked at the two curiously but didn't say anything. He had grown a little and become a bit more muscular, he wasn't toned or anything but he just didn't look completely puny anymore.

"Can you train us?" Setsuko asked bluntly. She looked at the younger boy and nearly scoffed. He didn't look like much.

"I've already got one annoyin' gaki, I don't want two more," he dismissed, equally as bluntly. Setsuko glared at Naruto and then at Ryo.

"Please!?" She persisted.

"… Hm, I don't really feel like it," Ryo yawned. "Tell me why I should, Setsuko-han."

She looked down and clenched her fists tightly. "I want to get stronger!" she growled.

Ryo looked at her brother, "And what 'bout ya, bluey? Hold yer' head up, yer attitude is really givin' me the… blues," he said restraining laughter. Naruto rubbed his temples and Keisuke shot up and laughed slightly hysterically.

"Ha! Y-you're r-r-really funny, sir!" he shouted. His tone was so plastic it would make a kid's toy jealous. Ryo patted the kid on the head.

"Good kid, Blondie-chan 'ere never laughs," he said, gesturing to Naruto.

"I wonder why," Naruto muttered under his breath.

"Now tell me why I should torture ya," Ryo said. Keisuke paled and bowed again.

"B-because! I-I… I laugh at your jokes?"

"You think is a joke!?" Ryo roared, smirking inwardly.

"NO SIR!" Keisuke shouted, saluting. Setsuko face palmed and Naruto snorted. Ryo glared at him for about 10 seconds and then burst out laughing. Not knowing what to do, Keisuke followed suit nervously.

"Well, I'll think about it," Ryo said and stroked his chin. "Why do ya wanna be so strong, missy?"

She raised her head, her red eyes almost blazing in their intensity. "I-I… I want to protect my brother, that's all I want." She stopped and gained a distant look in her eyes. "I don't want to be helpless anymore, not being able to do a thing when people are dying."

Ryo looked at her and narrowed his eyes. "So ya wanna stop people from dyin' by learnin' how to kill people?" She looked away.

"I just don't want to see my brother die, that's all," she mumbled.

"But by learnin' how ta kill people, you'll be exposed to even more killin' and dyin'. You'll be takin' away other people's brothers, wives, husbands, children. Are ya ready to shoulder that burden?"

"Yes," she nodded resolutely. Ryo gained a small smile.

"Then all right," he said. _'But I don't think ya are. You don't understand the burden. Then again, nobody does until they're so far gone that they can't go back.'_ He tuened his gaze to the boy who yelped n surprise. "And you!" he shouted. "You can too… if only ta see ya squirm," Ryo smirked, pushing up his glasses. Setsuko finally realised that Naruto was staring in her direction and flared at him. He didn't even twitch.

"What are you looking at?" She glared. Naruto's eyes seemingly registered her.

"Your brother," he said bluntly, making her growl.

"Me…?" Keisuke asked. Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, I never caught your name," Naruto said, cleaning his ear out with his pinky.

"Keisuke!"

"No need to shout," Naruto deadpanned and looked away.

"Don't ignore me!" Setsuko hissed. Really, she started talking to him first, not her brother. What an idiot! In fact, Ryo and this blonde boy were both idiots. Ryo watched in amusement.

"You asked me a question and I answered it, dattebayo!" he protested. Really, accusing him of things he hadn't even done. How irritating was this girl?

"Well, I got another question for you, goldilocks!" she said, making Naruto glare coldly at her. She smiled in satisfaction that she annoyed him. "What's YOUR name!?"

"Naruto! Naruto-sempai to you!" he said smugly. She twitched in annoyance.

"Why would I call a little brat like you sempai?" She shot back harshly. "I could beat your ass any day!"

Naruto simply ignored her. "Old man, now that we have these two here does that mean we're not going to visit the town. I wanna spar against some people my age!" he exclaimed.

"Relax, we're still going, blondie-chan. We'll just put it off a few days," he said making Naruto pout. Setsuko grinned smugly, "I could beat you," she stated firmly.

"Not a chance _kouhai," _He said smugly.

"Well, we're jus' gonna have ta sort this out in tha dojo, eh?" Ryo said. Naruto perked up, but didn't say anything. Setsuko simply smirked. Ryo grinned creepily and turned to Naruto.

"No need ta be nervous, Naru-chan. Come on, let's get going. Naruto rolled his eyes and stood up, bouncing on his toes as he did.

"I'm not nervous, you old bastard," Naruto droned, stretching out his neck.

"What happened ta ya respect, blondie-chan? I don't know where ya heard language like that!" Ryo gasped in mock shock.

"I learned it for you, you irresponsible geezer," Naruto shot back. Why was his shishou so damn annoying? "Let's go, anyway," Naruto declared and walked off in the direction of the dojo.

"Nuh-uh," Setsuko denied. "We've been travelling for days, we're cold, hungry and tired," she groaned. She looked at her brother, "Especially him," she said. Keisuke waved his arms around in denial before clutching his stomach as it made a low groaning noise. "I'll kick your ass another day," she told Naruto smugly.

"Tch, whatever, chicken," he mocked. He was satisfied as she started fuming, steam blowing out of her ears.

"I'm not a chicken! That's it! I'll destroy you right now and assert my dominance. When I win, you'll have to call me Setsuko-sama!"

"No way, I never call anybody 'sama'," Naruto denied.

"Oh, are you chicken, goldilocks?" she said, looking at her nails. Naruto growled. She was good at turning his own words against him…

"Not a chance, once I win, you have to stop calling me goldilocks," he said with rosy cheeks. That was such an embarrassing name! She glared at him challengingly.

"Deal."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Setsuko and Naruto stood across from each other, both holding wooden shinai. Setsuko was holding hers in a traditional two handed grip. Her stance was solid; it seemed that she had some training before. Naruto on the other hand was completely relaxed. His shinai was pointed downwards at an angle in his right hand with his left hand resting on the top of the hilt. His eyes were flickering rapidly, analysing her style. It was basic, but solid. From the way everything was not quite as firm as it could be he could deduce that she was tired. She glared right back at him, he was horribly open and looked off balance, his legs were beside each other, meaning his weight was distributed poorly. This would be easy! _'If this is the best he can do, then I should reconsider training here,' _she thought absentmindedly.

Ryo looked on at the two. It seemed that she was underestimating Naruto. That was not wise. The boy was the very definition of talent. It seemed wielding a blade was natural to him. When it came to pure swordsman instinct and reaction time there was no purer talent. Pulling the cigarette out of his mouth and putting it on his face with not even a wince, he raised his hand and brought it down.

"Begin!" he shouted.

Setsuko looked at Naruto who didn't seem to be moving. Thinking he was under estimating her, she growled and rushed at him, sword above her head poised to strike. Seeing that he didn't flinch as she approached him, she brought her sword down on him, expecting to hit.

Naruto watched impassively and raised his sword upwards to his side as the wooden sword approached him. As it was about to fall on his head, he stepped to the side slightly and the sword passed him harmlessly.

**CLANK!**

Setsuko's sword rebounded off of Naruto's extremely close to his hands. Setsuko's eyes widened and he thrust his sword in the blue haired girl's stomach, sending her sprawling on her back. She looked up to see Naruto with his shinai extended forward in two hands and his leg in a lunging position. His head was down and his blonde bangs were shadowing his eyes. He looked up slowly, with a stony look in his blue orbs that vanished as soon as she saw it, but it felt like she was looking at it much longer. It was replaced by a cheery smile.

"Well I guess you're not calling me goldilocks, then." He said with a massive grin. He threw his shinai to his master and walked off with his arms behind his back. Setsuko clenched her fists as he walked off, she felt like a dog. He walked off without a second glance… she felt weak and useless.

How could she ever avenge her family if she was so weak?

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**A week later**

Naruto walked side by side with his master, looking into the sky. He was going to the town to visit the local sword school. The last week had been fun. He had so much fun messing with Keisuke. He was such a wimp, but Naruto really liked him, he was entertaining to be around.

Like always, Ryo had been an irresponsible idiot. He was not somebody who could be trusted with any children. He still couldn't differentiate between a normal drink and alcohol and had ended up getting the Keisuke drunk. He stripped naked and rolled around in the snow, resulting in Setsuko giving him a beating and then Ryo a massive scolding.

'_Setsuko…' _He thought distantly. She was really weird. It wasn't that he didn't like her. He actually did. She seemed not to like him, though. She glared at him a lot. Was she still mad about that spar? He didn't know. Still, he couldn't help but like her. She may try to deny it, but she was a caring girl when it came to her brother. It reminded him of the nice doctor, Haruka baa-chan, who always tended to him when Ryo would push him too far, which was a common occurrence. He hoped that one day, he could see that side of her. Regardless, it was fun to make her mad. It was fun to make _everybody _mad.

Naruto looked around at the scenery. Soft snow was dancing around the area. Traditional buildings were lined up in rows, seemingly glaring at each other and everything seemed to be blend together in harmony. Approaching a typical sword school, he looked at his master who nodded at him.

"Well, we're here, blondie-chan," he said, as he stood in front of it. Naruto heard the tell tale grunts of people training. This was a new experience for the blonde child. He had always trained alone and he hadn't had much experience in talking to others. If he had before he had met Ryo, he couldn't remember, obviously. He had amnesia.

Shifting nervously, Ryo bopped him on the back of the head. "Stop fidgetin' 'round, Naru-chan," he scolded. He rudely walked into the dojo, Naruto followed suit unsurely. When they walked in, the were greeted by the sight of a few kids and some animals in matching grey training clothes. They were wearing kimono tops and hakama.

Naruto looked up and saw an old man with his hair in a grey long ponytail and benevolent charcoal black eyes. He was wearing similar clothes to his students but his were black and trimmed with white.

"Yo, old man," Ryo yelled out. The man turned his head and smiled at him.

"Ah, Ryo-kun, I do believe my name is Masaru," he said with a smile. Ryo smirked.

"Whatever, you'll always be an old man to me, ole' man," he said, making the older man smile.

"And you scold me for calling you an old man, old man," Naruto muttered. He was slapped on the head by an irritated Ryo. Masaru smiled at the boy…

"Is this your student? He certainly seems a lot like you," he said, pressing his lips together.

"I'm not as irresponsible," Naruto muttered.

"Just as disrespectful, though," Masaru smiled fondly.

"Say hi to the _real _ole' man, Blondie-chan," Ryo grinned.

"Hi…?" Naruto said awkwardly.

"Hello, may I ask what your name is, young one?"

"Naruto… just Naruto," he told the man with a downcast face. He really wanted to know who he actually was. Was Naruto his real name? Or was it something he just imagined on the spot? The old man noticed this and smiled reassuringly.

"It is nice to meet you, Naruto-kun," he gestured to a brown haired boy who was the same age as the blonde. "Meet my grandson, Okita Souji," he said. The boy bowed.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Naruto-san," he said monotonously. Naruto nearly groaned at the formality. The boy's hair was shoulder length, in a high ponytail and he had some bangs on his forehead swept to the side. He was a little bit taller than Naruto, who to put bluntly, was short for his age

"It's nice to meet you too, Souji… san," he added with a foul taste in his mouth. Respect was never his strong point. The boy noticed this and his lips quirked briefly.

Ryo snorted. "Keep ta what you're good at, Naru-chan!" he jested. "How about a little spar between your grandson and my blonde gaki?"

Masaru nodded with a smile. "I believe that would be good. Souji-kun here hasn't got anybody his age on his own level yet, so I believe a spar would be valuable. The school gaped. Okita was a talented kid, a prodigy through and through. How the hell was this flaky looking blonde kid meant to stand up to him. Yet, he was the student of Ryo so most accepted it.

Naruto grinned which made most feel uneasy. His face went from docile to feral in less than a second.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto had the same stance as before. This time he was a little more cautious though and hid right leg was slid back a little. Souji had his shinai held in two hands above his shoulder and his legs were bent. They both analysed each other. Okita's gaze turned calculative. _'Hm… looks relatively unguarded, but he has the capability to instantly pivot his body and defend his seemingly weak left side. Impressive…'_

Naruto returned the calculative gaze, his frosty blue eyes boring a hole into Souji. _'His stance…he can thrust very easily, and proceed to slash after a miss on a whim. The real weakness is how far forward his foot is. I can step on it…' _he deducted.

Hearing the start, he immediately stepped to the side to avoid a thrust that was sent by Souji and then ducked as the wooden blade pursued him. From his crouched position he swept his sword upwards and the brown haired boy dodged in time by leaning his head back. Naruto brought his sword back down in a fluid motion, but it was blocked by his opponent's wooden sword. They both recoiled from that attack but they both quickly recovered and clashed again.

Turning around with their eyes glaring at each other, they moved in a circle with their weapons still pressed against each other. They both pulled back at exactly the same time, stumbling backwards. They regained their footing and charged at each other. They were only focused on each other and paid no mind to the impressed spectators. As Souji thrusted, pivoted to the side, his hair swayed and the brown haired boy's eyes widened.

Naruto brought his sword up, hitting the boy in the stomach, but his felt a surge of shock course through his body as he felt Souji's shinai against his neck, hitting Naruto at exactly the same time as Naruto hit Souji.

'_He must of noticed what I did and reacted accordingly. Woah…' _Naruto thought in amazement. That required amazing control.

Souji on the other hand was breathing hard in exhilaration. _'He rushed at me to dodge…? That's crazy! It decreases the time you have to react…How good is his reaction time? More importantly, how reckless is he!?' _

Masaru watched the fight with a smile. Now that his grandson had somebody to regard as an equal his age, he could improve more quickly. He had been closed off, a recluse. He had no friends he was only dedicated to his training. It was admirable, but a sad thing to see in one so young.

His thoughts drifted to Ryo's apprentice. He was quite an astounding boy who would grow up to do great things. He was… gutsy, just as reckless as his master. Although he fought very differently to Ryo, which was surprising. Ryo was very defensive and used counter attacks. The blonde hadn't learned the main techniques of the silver haired man's style yet. He hadn't learned what made Ryo known as the god hand, the shinigami, and the drunken disaster… all the things that made Ryo, Ryo. He had a feeling Naruto would go on to make his own reputation, though. He could go far… and would be a valuable asset in the future.

Ryo grinned, his gaki was awesome. He was everything he wanted in an apprentice. To see the fruits of his labour was rewarding and it made the silver haired man proud. He hadn't started teaching Naruto killing intent techniques yet, but he would soon. Firstly, though… he'd have to work on the boy's chakra control. That'd give him time to work with Keisuke and Setsuko.

Shit, he'd left them alone for quite a while now. They would have probably finished their exercises by now… he'd cross that bridge when he reached it. He was glad to have the two. Naruto hadn't had the chance to make any friends. The only one he had made before was the doctor's granddaughter, Emi, who had taken to calling him 'Nawu-nii.' She was four so it didn't really count. Now he had made another friend, Ryo couldn't help but feel happy. Was this how a father felt when he was proud of his son?

"There is not a winner of this spar," Masaru announced. The two boys glared at each other with lightning shooting from each other's eyes. Everybody watched in amusement. Eventually both of their expressions softened and Naruto held out his fist with the intention for Souji to bump it. Souji looked on puzzled, but realised what Naruto wanted and reciprocated with a grin. He then bowed at Naruto who mirrored the action uncomfortably.

"I'll win next time," Naruto promised.

"As if," Souji denied.

"Whatever, I'll take that as a challenge, dattebayo," Naruto smirked.

**Right, new chapter and bonds! I can't wait to get to the meaty parts. As for the pairings... I'm not sure that if in the end Naruto will end up with anybody. There will be some Naruto/OC that is vital for the story; it will be part of Naruto's character development. I might just not go with all these pairings because in the end I don't think Naruto will end up living in Konoha. I have most of the story planned out already, but that is one thing that I am unsure of. If you want to know who the inspiration for Naruto's style will be/is, it is Kariya Kagetoki from the later episodes of Samurai Champloo. I loved that guy.**

**Feel free to review ^_^**


	4. Learning, bonding and growing

**This chapter was really just a run through of the years. I needed at least some development, y'know? Sorry if it bores you or something, but I needed to do it. Anyway, I didn't do much on Keisuke... he comes in later, really. This was just focused on Naruto and Setsuko. **

**T****wo years later**

Red hair… whose hair was that? Blinking the bluriness out of his eyes he sat up and looked around to see the dark room. It must have been night time. Were these his memories? All he could really see was red, but it was comforting. It was nice. Every time he saw that crimson red hair, suddenly he didn't feel so lost anymore. So unsure of himself. It was so… benevolent.

He looked around the room to see the sleeping forms of Keisuke and Setsuko. Keisuke was huddled up against her. She must have been a source of comfort for him. Naruto noticed how dependent he was on her and how desperately she tried to curb his habit. It wasn't healthy. He couldn't live without her.

Setsuko shifted in her sleep restlessly. She was sweating. _'Is she having a nightmare?' _Naruto thought in surprise. She was always so strong, never showing a moment of weakness. She had to, for her brother.

"Don't… tou-san… kaa-chan," she muttered in her sleep. "Don't go."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. Was she just putting on a cold, strong front for Keisuke. He felt like he understood her more, now. Still, he wouldn't mention he knew that she had been having nightmares. At least, not for a while. Maybe he should stop being so antagonistic to her? Nah. He could be more understanding, though.

Sighing, he layed back on his futon, hoping to get at least some more sleep. Still, he couldn't help but glance over to the slightly older girl every once in a while.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto grasped the bokken in his hands, running through a sequence of flowing sword strikes. His eyes flickered over to Setsuko who wasn't flowing as well as him. He paused and scanned her form. There was too much wasted movement. It wasn't a lot, but it was noticeable. She noticed his stare and scowled at him.

"What's your problem, Naruto?" she asked testily.

"You're wasting too much movement. Don't rely on your arms, trust in your legs," he advised.

"Fuck you," she retorted hotly. Was he mocking her? Seeing the annoyed look in his eyes and him turning away dismissively, her eyes softened. She went on to try the kata again and found that it did indeed work better than before.

"Naruto…" she said guiltily. He simply turned an eye to her, she sighed. "Naruto, I'm sorry," she said apologetically. Naruto grunted.

"It's fine… I usually deserve it anyway," Naruto admitted. He did taunt her a lot and it was never to be mean. She knew that. Sometimes, though, she just wasn't in the mood. "Where's Keisuke?"

"He's still outside. Shishou is working on his conditioning." she told him.

"Speak of the devil," Naruto muttered underneath his breath. Keisuke stumbled in the room, shivering with a smirking Ryo behind him. "Yo, old man, Keisuke," Naruto greeted.

"Blondie-chan, grumpy-chan," he acknowledged. He turned his gaze to Naruto who stiffened as he did so.

"You've been workin' on this style for 5 years," Ryo said in an oddly serious tone. "But let me tell ya, these are just tha basics..."

Naruto's eyes widened as did Setsuko's. Keisuke simply hobbled over to his sister and collapsed on his ass.

"You've done a groovy job," he praised. "But the Sakki-ryuu's true form ain't somethin' that can be taught. It's different for ever'body," He took off his glasses and glared at the boy. "Killin' takes many forms. There's no 'right' way ta kill. Everything I taught ya so far is meant ta be built on… understood?" Naruto nodded. "Groovy."

"So… what do I do now?" Naruto asked.

"Just cos the basics of the actual style are all in ya head, don't mean I have taught you everything. Ya training's not over."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "What's left?"

Ryo smirked. "Chakra techniques. I been building up ya control, but I ain't taught ya any yet. There are illusions, chakra flow and elemental manipulation ya need ta leaen first, gaki. And you ain't flawless yet…"

Naruto nodded nonchalantly. That made sense. A thought came into his head. "What's your unique style, shishou?"

"I use the **Yotta Sakki-ryuu. **Made it myself," Ryo said proudly.

"Drunken killing intent style? Why am I not surprised dattebayo," Naruto snorted. "Still, it sounds awesome," Naruto mused.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

**Two years later**

A twelve year old Naruto walked through the village, clasping his hand in pain. The damn irresponsible old man probably fractured his hand in a spar. Walking past the sword school, he nodded to the master who was sitting out front. Who sits out front in the snow? Everybody in Iron country, apparently.

Sighing, he heard a few sniffling sounds as he carried on walking. His eyes widened as he felt a familiar presence. It was Setsuko… he wondered where she had gone for the past few hours. Ryo had told him not to question it, so he didn't think much of it. She was strong so he wasn't worried. Walking to where she was with the purpose of at least being there for her in mind, he ignored the pain in his hand. He walked off the path and went over to the frozen lake.

He saw her sitting there. Over the years, Setsuko had matured a little. She was about 5"2 now and had her hair in a high ponytail. Her skin's complexion was still a winter white but it no longer looked unhealthy. Naruto's complexion had become fairer, too. It must have been the weather. Her breasts were a B-cup… something that was sore spot for her. Ryo had found out the hard way.

Over the years, the two had become closer. Friends. Naruto still didn't know anything about her life before coming to Ryo, but he didn't pry. Although they were friends, they still acted like they always had, insulting each other and making fun of each other. Still, there was no venom in it.

Setsuko was sitting, holding her knees to her chest. It didn't look like she had been crying at all, but her face was downcast. Naruto had never seen her cry before. He saw her have nightmares in the night occasionally but she had never openly shown distress.

Sitting down next to her gently, he glanced at her. She ignored his presence for a good minute or so before finally breaking it.

"Why are you here?" she whispered. She didn't feel comfortable with this. Naruto looked into the pale sky.

"Cos I want to be," he said. She tightened her grip around her knees.

"Don't give me that crap!" she hissed. Naruto ignored her.

"It's cold on this floor," Naruto mused out loud.

"Are you here to mock me?" she said, finally making eye contact. Naruto returned it. His dark blue eyes bored into her and she eased up her glare.

"I just wanted to know what my kouhai was doing here…"

"I'm older than you!" she said, cracking a small smile and looking away so he couldn't see it.

"Be that as it may, I'm still your sempai," Naruto said in a matter of fact tone. She slapped his arm.

"Stop screwing about, you girly boy."

"Girly? since when have I been girly?"

"You look like a doll."

"You know what? I don't care what you think," he paused and his face adopted a serious expression that startled her. He was never serious. Ever, "I only care about why you were crying alone here."

"Crying?" she said incredulously. "I don't cr-,"

"Setsuko," Naruto interrupted. "I know what I heard. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine… you don't know anything about me, either. But you're my friend. I'll listen to you if you want to speak. It must be hard, right? Being strong for Keisuke." He told her sincerely.

"What the hell would you know?" she said snappily. Naruto recoiled. "You don't have any siblings… you don't even know who you are!" Setsuko's eyes widened as she realised what she said. She wanted to take it back, to say sorry.

Naruto's hair shadowed his eyes and he clenched his fists. "Whatever, be like that. You can cry all you want. I don't care," Naruto growled and got up to leave. She grabbed his hand which caused him to snap hit away and grunt in pain. She grabbed the fractured hand unknowingly. It hurt like hell.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. You were trying to help me… I had no right to say that," she apologised. Naruto didn't turn back to acknowledge her. "It seems like all I can do is hurt you," she muttered apologetically. She stood up and grabbed Naruto's shoulders to stop him from walking away.

Naruto looked down as he tried to push down the frozen feeling in his chest. That really hurt coming from a friend and just served to remind him of his situation.

"Naruto, I'm sorry. It's just… I can't take it anymore!" she admitted. Naruto's eyes widened. He was listening to her. He turned around slowly and looked into her red eyes. They were about the same height so he didn't have to look up or down. "When me and Keisuke were little… Our father was so pushy. He talked so much about strength. He was so intimidating. So cold. But he loved us in his own way."

Naruto wondered where she was going with this but kept on listening. "He was particularly hard on Keisuke because he wanted a strong son. This had the opposite effect, though. It made Keisuke easy to scare… feeble. He clung on to me because I was the only one who was ever soft on him. Our mother died when we were young so she couldn't be that figure in his life." she looked at the ground.

"I see," Naruto said. Setsuko paid him no mind and continued.

"But when we were ten, our father was murdered… by a ninja. Nobody did anything about it. He was a loyal samurai to the country, but the ninja faced no consequences. How is that fair? Because we're neutral, we have no allies and we can't risk any wars. Where's the justice in that? I keep on trying to get Keisuke to grow up, to become less of a wimp, but he still clings on to me, he still is so childish… how am I meant to loo-,"

"Shhh," Naruto said, putting a finger to her lips. She was having a total breakdown… he was still hurt, but he wasn't mad at her anymore. She was so stressed and she had kept it bottled up for so long. She deserved a break.

"You've been strong for so long but you're still human. You have emotions… there's no harm in expressing them, is there?" Naruto gazed into her eyes. "We're friends, aren't we? I won't judge you and I won't think you're weak," he assured her.

That was the last straw for Setsuko as she hugged him and broke down crying on his shoulder. Naruto simply stared in the distance, being there for her. He didn't know what to do with a crying girl at all, so he just did what he could. Be there for her.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

"Old man," Naruto called out. He wasn't wearing a shirt and had training weights on his body, specifically on his wrists and ankles. He paused in his training, shinai held in front of him.

"Blondie," he said back. Naruto looked at the ground.

"You've been acting on edge recently," Naruto said suspiciously.

"'ave I?" Ryo asked inquistively.

"Don't give me that crap, dattebayo!"

Ryo sighed. "Blondie… something that's not groovy is comin' soon," he said.

"What?"

"War," Ryo said bluntly. "Civil war to be precise."

"Civil war?" Naruto repeated in a confused tone. "Why?"

"As you know, Iron country is neutral. We don't get involved with shinobi and they don't get involved with us."

"Yeah, we really have no business with the shinobi. They're destructive. They fight in wars like their life depends on it and we don't belong in their messes," Naruto said firmly.

"I agree," Ryo said. "But some people… they wanna be involved with the shinobi. Cos' we're neutral, we ain't got any strong ties to anybody else. What if they all decide to get rid of us and take our resources? It's unlikely, but if that happened we'd be helpless. Also, our tradin' agreements are weak. If we allied with the shinobi, they'd become stronger and we'd become richer,"

Naruto clenched his fists. "So we're supposed to sacrifice this peace we have for money? Plus who would we even ally with? That's balls up, old man!" Naruto shouted.

"I know, I know, it ain't groovy. But this is inevitable," he paused. "You don't 'ave ta fight."

"And watch others die for my beliefs?" Naruto scowled. "Like hell! I don't back down and I don't give up before I even start…" his voice softened. "When? When is it happening?"

"No idea," Ryo admitted. "It's brewin'," He looked at Naruto sadly. _'What side will you choose? You could either be my enemy or the twin's enemy. In the end, nothing but heartbreak awaits' _Ryo thought sadly. _'I'm so, so sorry,'_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

**Two years later**

Naruto had grown to 5"7 and he was around 14 or 15 years old. Naruto wasn't quite sure what his birthday actually was. He knew he was either 14 or 15. he didn't really celebrate his birthday, either. Setsuko and Keisuke did, but he didn't. It always saddened her that he didn't and inwardly he felt down as well. He still hadn't recovered his memories but figured that he wouldn't have been able to remember them by now at his age even if he hadn't lost them so it didn't matter. He considered Ryo a father, but he would never admit that. One thing that he did yearn for was a last name.

He now wore a dark blue kimono top with nothing underneath, black trousers tucked into knee high black boots and a furred blue haori. If he had it his way, he would wear straw sandals and socks, but it was too snowy in Iron country to do that. His shaggy blonde hair reached the nape of his neck and his bangs were swept to the side so they stayed out of his eyes. He didn't go for the typical ponytail that others did. Long hair did not look good on him. His skin had become paler and his whisker marks were lighter, but still noticeable.

Setsuko and Keisuke had moved out a year ago. They hadn't gone on good terms really. They had a fight about the upcoming civil war. It was pretty rough and maybe even heartbreaking. Naruto had feelings for the Setsuko and Keisuke was one of his best friends. He considered Keisuke to be a brother… maybe even a younger brother even though the boy was older than him.

_**Flashback on**_

"_What!?" Setsuko hissed, grabbing Naruto's shirt and pinning him against the wall. "What do you mean?"_

"_I don't agree with you," Naruto said calmly._

"_What do you mean? Are you so scared of change? Are you willing to just let the ninja walk all over us?"_

"_No, I'm not. But it isn't about that, is it?" Naruto sighed. "Do you really believe what you're saying?"_

"_Of course I do? Why wouldn't I?" Naruto finally reversed the pin and pressed her against the wall by her wrists. She glared defiantly at him._

"_It's not about standing up for the samurai, is it? It's about revenge!" he exclaimed. She head butted him which made his head recoil. Still, his grip didn't loosen._

"_Shut up, you bastard! You don't know anything!"_

"_Maybe I don't… but I… I don't know… just I don't want you to go. I don't want to be enemies."_

"_Well we're going to be!" she said, tearing up. She didn't want to be enemies, either. "So man up!" she hissed, tears spilling out of her eyes. He dropped her wrists limply and leant his body over hers. Their eyes locked._

_Blue met red and their breaths hitched._

_They leant in._

_Closer. Naruto could feel her hot breath brushing against his chin._

_Closer. They were pulled in like magnets._

_Clos-_

_They both turned their heads away at the last second. They came closer together. They couldn't do it. They'd just become more attached. They were going to be enemies._

_Setsuko pushed Naruto away. She was , she ran away. Naruto looked at her retreating form and he punched the wall in frustration. Why did things have to be like this?_

_**Flashback off**_

After that, they avoided each other. That was pretty difficult considering how close they lived. It was really awkward and everybody noticed it, especially Ryo. He was sad that it had come to this. He felt like a horrible person. Like a horrible teacher.

Ryo stared down his blonde student who was holding a shinai in his typical stance. He was chewing on a toothpick.

"This… is the last step in becomin' a man," Ryo said. "I know you're ready… so lets get this over with. One hit. That's all we're doin'."

Naruto nodded nonchalantly and his legs bent. Ryo matched his stance. They stared each other down for a while and Ryo eventually spat out his toothpick. As soon as it hit the floor, the two charged at each other.

Naruto raised his sword to the side of him.

Ryo did the same.

They neared each other and both of the weapons vanished from their hands. At exactly the same moment, their shinai reappeared and appeared in a thrust from below. They appeared back to back with their weapons stretched out.

"Fuck!" they both yelled at the same time and rubbed their chins in unison.

"Damn brat!" "Damn old man!" they both scowled. They both smirked at the same time.

"You pass!" Ryo exclaimed. He vanished before Naruto could say anything and reappeared with a katana and wakizashi.

"First ever gift I got you," Ryo admitted sheepishly. They were both high quality swords and they matched. They were rather plain, but that was fine by Naruto. The katana had a black sheath and it's hilt had orange wrapping on it The guard was circular like a whirlpool and they both had matching charms on them: Two dice for gambling attached to the guards. Ryo noticed how absurdly lucky his student was when it came to that…

"Thank you, shishou," Naruto said gratefully, tearing up a bit. It was the first gift he had gotten from the man so he couldn't help but be grateful.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Ryo sat in the dark room with another man. Naruto was in the town, probably drinking with his friend, Souji. They had bonded over their spars and become good friends.

Ryo looked at the man, long grey hair capped by bandages on the top of his head. Triple tear troughs under each eye black eye and fu manchu facial hair. This was Mifune, leader of Iron country.

"Hello, old friend," Mifune greeted. Ryo adjusted his glasses.

"Let's skip the pleasantries, eh?"

Mifune's face turned serious. "War is almost upon us. We are in need of your skills. One more push is all it will take…"

"Okay," Ryo sighed. "How long do I have?"

"About three months."

"Well that's not fuckin' groovy at all."

**The action starts soon and soon you'll see Naruto's true ability. How fun, I'm already excited! Next chapter will be just before the war and the beginning of it. We'll be seeing both sides of it. We won't be visiting the shinobi world for a while, not until Naruto canon starts, anyway. Feel free to review ^_^ It would make my day if you did!**


	5. War on the horizon

**There's a lime in this chapter. I didn't feel the need the need to write a full lemon. There would not be a point. There isn't any boobage action in it or anything... I was going to but I just kept it all implied. If I wrote a random lemon it would completely ruin the pace of this chapter and I felt I could show all I wanted to in a lime anyway.**

* * *

**Two months later**

Naruto walked along an icy path towards the capital. He was still wearing the same clothes as before with a couple of exceptions. on his arms he had some blue armguards that ended at the knuckle of his hand and he wore a metal rimmed straw conical hat with dice hanging off the rim by strings. In his belt were his katana and wakizashi His blue eyes were half lidded lazily as he carried on walking. The day was bright, the air was fresh and the snow was crisp. It was a nice morning…

So why did he have to deal with this shit?

A group of bandits stepped out from the surrounding trees brandishing poorly made katana. There were six of them. They all looked like generic thugs. They had missing teeth messy hair in varying colours in brown and black. Was Naruto the only blonde in Iron country? He stopped in his tracks.

"Oi, gaki," the lead bandit scowled. He was wearing worn out brown leather armour and held his blade in a two handed grip. "This is our turf, want to get to the capital then you're gonna have to pay up."

Naruto raised his straw hat with his hand and the bandit got a glimpse of his stony blue eyes. "Ahh, can't we talk this out, bandit-san?" he droned with a cheerful undertone. He smiled pleasantly.

"You either pay up or you die. Those are your only two options."

"I see," Naruto muttered, his smile going. The bandits froze at the killing intent in the air and Naruto's eyes gained a strange gleam in them. "Neither of those are and option so I'm going to _negotiate."_

The bandit sweated put put up a strong facade. "There's no room for negotiation!"

"Oh, but there is," Naruto almost purred silkily. "How about you die and I go past. It's a win win situation. I get to do what I'm doing and you… well you can at least say your deaths weren't completely pathetic. What do you say?" Naruto said, drawing his blade and not taking his eyes off it as he did.

"Don't fuck around!" the bandit yelled angrily. He rushed at Naruto with the intent of cutting him down. His eyes focused on the grinning blonde.

His eyes went wide and he froze as he nearly reached the blonde.

He could have sworn he saw blade flash past his head, neck stomach and waist in an instant.

He didn't.

As he was frozen, Naruto stabbed his blade through his chest, looking to the man's eyes as he did so. He saw fear, desperation and despair in his brown eyes. He tore the blade out of the man nonchalantly and cleaned it with a cloth he flicked from his sleeve.

What Naruto did to the man was project his killing intent to different places on his body and the man's mind conjured up an image of a blade striking those points, but Naruto hadn't at all. The only movement he made was the final stab and the subtle twitches whilst he was deceiving the man. The Sakki-ryu wasn't a chakra demanding style and it wasn't too physically demanding either… not any more than any other sword style anyway. It was just mentally straining as intent wasn't controlled by chakra control or anything like that. It was controlled by the mind.

You had trick your mind into genuinely believing that you were going to attack somewhere you weren't actually going to attack. It was extremely difficult.

"Who's next?"

The men stood there wide eyed before their expressions turned furious. "Get him!"

Naruto's eyes turned cold and he dodged a sword strike from one man and cut him down ruthlessly. Another man charged at him, but Naruto grabbed the hat from his own head and the metal rim glowed a faint blue. He sliced the approaching man in half with a clean swipe and then threw it like a frisbee and it decapitated a man standing at the back. He jerked his out stretched hand backwards and it came back to him like a boomerang killing the other two men on the way.

Naruto caught the hat and put his blade back in his sheath with a flourish. He then wiped the bloody rim of the hat and put it back on his head. He looked around at the mutated bodies and he sighed. Blood stained the snow. Naruto didn't know any fire techniques. Only wind and lightning. Somebody else would have to sort it out.

What idiot group of bandits attacks an armed person? They were just wasting their lives.

Naruto walked on by without a care in the world. It wasn't his first kill…

And it certainly wouldn't be his last.

* * *

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto walked through the capital, looking around. He saw many people wandering around the streets and pleasant chatter all around him. There were off duty Samurai wearing similar clothes to him in various different colours. They only wore the armour whilst on duty and even then it was when they were guarding people, doing patrols or in battle. There were a bunch of traditional japanese style buildings and the snow on the ground had many more footprints than he was used to.

Holding his head down, his eyes flickered to a man walking in the opposite direction to him. His eyes flickered to him.

He had long purple hair that was tied into a high ponytail. His eyes were brown and slanted and his features were defined and a muscular. He had a purple goatee and a charming grin on his face. He was wearing a high collared grey haori over a pale blue kimono. On his bare feet were geta sandals.

Naruto's eyes flickered over to him as did the other's man. They both felt a surge of electricity in the brief second their eyes met and suddenly the only thing they could focus on was each other. Everybody else became a silhouette in that brief second their eyes locked. Naruto could have sworn he saw an ethereal red dragon tower over his form.

Likewise, the man could have sworn that he saw a ferocious sabertooth tiger interlock the the form of Naruto. They looked away like they hadn't seen anything.

'_That man...' _Naruto thought.

'_That boy...' _The stranger thought.

'_We're going to meet again one day.' _They both thought in unison.

Naruto breathed out heftily and an icy mist spewed out of his mouth. He had to go sign up for the loyalists. Their base was an old government building on the edge of town. That's what Ryo told him anyway. He'd meet his master there. They had split off two months ago and Naruto had visited a few towns before coming to the capital because he didn't really know what life was like away from Ryo.

It was less annoying, but it was also less fun.

Naruto walked through the capital with the intent of getting to the building. After about 30 minutes of walking he reached his destination.

"This is it?" He muttered. The building was grandiose. It had a courtyard out the front and was not modest at all. It was stone unlike all the other building and it had multiple stories and samurai guarding it. The building extended far back and was surrounded by a gate.

"Stop right there," an armoured samurai commanded. Naruto raised his hands in a surrendering position.

"Reason for being here?"

"I want to sign up for the loyalists," Naruto said. The two samurai looked at each other and nodded.

"Okay, hand us your weapons and we'll get somebody to escort you to Mifune-sama."

Naruto nodded and pulled his blades from his belt and handed them to the samurai. He reached into his shirt and handed them a small knife, too. They patted him down to see if he was carrying anything else and checked all of the storage scrolls he had on him. Naruto heard a snort when they found an Icha Icha book.

He was a healthy teenage boy. They could deny that they read it all they wanted but Naruto called bullshit.

They nodded to Naruto who gave a grin in acknowledgement. They couldn't help but feel the grin was familiar… and they way he walked. It was just like Ryo-dono!

Naruto was met by another samurai.

"Follow me," he said. Naruto nodded and walked a bit behind him. The building was big. There were lots of offices and there was a training area for the people there. Most people stayed in inns and their homes but they often rendezvous at headquarters. Most people who were loyalists were already samurai of the country so they didn't have to go through this process. After a walk in an awkward silence the samurai finally stopped.

"Naruto-dono, Mifune-sama has been waiting for you," he said. Naruto cocked an eyebrow. How did this guy know his name? And what was up with the 'dono' suffix? It made him sound old. Nodding he knocked on the door and was greeted by the man sitting at his desk. The office was spacious and he was guarded by two Samurai standing behind him.

"Naruto-kun, I've heard many good things about you from Ryo-dono," Mifune said kindly. Naruto scratched the back of his head.

"Wow, I guess the old man is a big softie after all," Naruto chuckled. Mifune's lips curled in amusement.

"Well if he is an old man, then what am I?"

Naruto paused and adopted a confused expression. "A… really old man?"

Mifune let out a hearty laugh even as the samurai in the background growled at the disrespect.

"Was that the right answer, Mifune… sa-ma," he said like a foul taste on his tongue. He really hated that suffix.

"Well, let's get you inducted into the ranks, shall we."

Naruto nodded with a trace of melancholy. He didn't want this… but it was his responsibility.

"I've already got most of it prepared. Thank your shishou, so this won't take long."

"Where is he, anyway?" Naruto asked. He wanted to see him, it had been so long.

"He's staying at an inn in the city. He declined my offer to stay with me, so I don't know where he went."

"Great, I'll find him tomorrow or something."

* * *

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto sat in the restaurant in the corner on his own. He could look at whoever entered the whilst being discreet. He felt somebody following him earlier.

Mifune although he seemed like a dull old man surprisingly had a sense of humour. Everything was done quickly and efficiently and Naruto was out of there quickly. Like his master, Mifune offered him to stay in the building but Naruto declined.

The waitress came up to him with a blush on her face. She was a pretty young thing. Not Naruto's type, she was too young… she was probably around 13 or so.

"E-excuse me, sir. Can I take your order?" she asked nervously. Naruto grinned brightly at her in an attempt to calm her down. He had been glaring around the place pretty coldly, checking out everyone in there. It seemed to work, but her cheeks did turn more red.

"Just some sake and..." he trailed off. "12 sticks of dango," he decided.

"Yes, sir!" she said like a soldier. Naruto raised an eyebrow and she blushed in embarrassment and scurried off like a frightened rabbit. Naruto's eyes shot to the door as somebody walked in. Long blue hair tied in a high ponytail, red eyes, pale skin.

Naruto's eyes went wide. It was Setsuko.

She was wearing modest clothes: a short sleeved white gi, a white sleeveless haori and red trousers tucked into similar boots to his. Not the ideal footwear, but it was necessary for the snow. She looked directly in his direction with a meaningful look. She must have been the one following him.

She approached him and sat on the other side of the table. Naruto looked away with a saad look on his face.

"...Why did you follow me?" he asked lowly.

"I…" she trailed off. "I just wanted to talk to you," she said more firmly.

"About what?" Naruto asked, still not making eye contact with her.

"Can't you reconsider?" she asked desperately. "I mean, can't you join the rebels. What's so bad about change?"

"No, I can't. I believe in what I believe in," Naruto said firmly. "We have no place in the shinobi world… at least not as it stands."

"What do you mean?" She asked curiously. Naruto looked at her sadly.

"I've done a lot of thinking…and as it stands there's no place for us with the shinobi. They're selfish, destructive, manipulating and it would only lead to us being involved in wars that don't involve us. If the rebels won, imagine all the new enemies we would have regardless of who we ally with. The only way I can see us and the shinobi coming together is if they come together first. What are the chances of that happening? The only way that it would be even slightly plausible is that if everybody had a common enemy. What are the chances of that happening?"

Setsuko closed her eyes in acceptance. She wasn't going to change his mind. "Even still, Naruto, Iron country would be a better place as a whole. You already know how and no matter what I say I won't convince you… and you won't convince me. So let's just accept it and spend what time we have left as… friends," she smiled falsely. Naruto returned the smile uneasily. It still hurt.

"Where's Keisuke?" Naruto asked curiously. Setsuko scowled in remembrance of her idiotic twin brother.

"I've got no idea what that idiot is doing. He used to be a wimp… now he just does what he wants all the time," she huffed

"Isn't that what you wanted?" Naruto asked with an amused smile. He still hurt, but if he wasted time moping then this precious time with Setsuko would be lost.

"Yeah, I did… but he can't keep out of trouble. At least when he was clinging on to me he didn't do anything too stupid. Plus, I can never have a room next to him anymore… he's started whoring around." she ranted. Naruto's eyebrows shot up in surprise. The same meek and squeamish Keisuke?

"So… he's not a wimp anymore?"

Setsuko smirked. "No, he still is. He panics over the littlest things." She paused. "There was this one time where a bird flew into his room and he spent a good 20 minutes screaming."

Naruto snorted. That did sound like Keisuke.

* * *

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Lime Alert!**

Naruto sighed. "Why are we here? I was gonna get a room somewhere else," he whined.

"Stop whining, Naruto," Setsuko chided softly. They had spent most of they day together, catching up and such. This was their last time ever so they made it worthwhile. They got so absorbed that they forgot the grim circumstances that separated them in the first place.

Naruto looked down and saw her leaning on his shoulder. They were literally just outside her room in an inn. She hastily opened the door and led Naruto in by the wrist. Naruto blinked as his body registered the movement s before his mind. This inn wasn't like the others, instead of futons there was a bed. Setsuko pushed him on to it.

The whole room was dark, except for the one light on the pair, illuminating their forms.

"What…?" he asked confusedly. She pressed her finger to his lips gently. It felt like she was going to have a heart attack.

"It's just… Naruto. I-I," she steeled her emotions. She had to tell him. This was her last chance. "I love you…" she said nervously with a tinge of pink on her cheeks. Naruto's heart rate increased rapidly.

"I-," he paused. Setsuko pressed her lips to his and his eyes widened. Naruto pushed her away gently.

"We can't, Setsuko… I feel the same way. I love you, too. I-I don't want to fight anymore. So many times I've just felt like running away. I don't want to feel like this anymore… but we can't do this. It'll only end in heartbreak," Naruto stroked her face gently. He closed his eyes and salty tears ran down his face. They shot open again when he felt her kiss him again on the chin. She had moved to sit right next to him.

"Please… I need this. We need this. We won't get another chance. I... at least want to be with you once. I just… please?" she pleaded, looking up at him with those vulnerable red eyes.

And just like that, Naruto's resolve crumbled.

"Okay," he whispered as he took the initiative. He pressed his lips to her hers deeply, like she would run away if he didn't. She returned it with equal need and desperation. It was like they were trying to get as much of each other as possible.

Lost in their their lust, lost in their affection and lost in their love, they did not know when their tongues started fighting for dominance and exploring the deepest cavities of each other's mouths. They both groaned in pleasure. Naruto pulled away gently and gazed into her glossy eyes. She layed down on her back and pulled him over her, reclaiming his lips.

Naruto's hand brushed her cheek gently and trailed down her snowy skin with delicacy, handling her like a precious antique. He pulled his lips away from hers tenderly, their heavy breaths seemingly in synch with another. His lips didn't go far though as they brushed against her face gradually going lower and lower. He started placing butterfly kisses down her neck, making her moan his name.

They groped each other feeling their partners bodies, registering everything in their memories. They progressed deeper and further unaware of anything around them. It was like they were in the eye of a storm… everything could be going to hell around them but they didn't care. They only cared about each other as they got lost in their own world where there were no problems, no conflicts… just them and their feelings.

For just that one moment, that one moment nothing else mattered.

* * *

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**The next morning**

Naruto opened his eyes. Feeling an unfamiliar weight to the side of him he saw Setsuko. The cleavage of her breasts were visible from under the covers. He closed his eyes in remembrance of last night. He was happy to have had his first time with the girl he loved but he couldn't help but get a feeling of foreboding in his stomach.

"What now?" He whispered to himself. He saw her shift a little and her eyes open slowly. Well, they were used to waking up at the same time… they always did when they were younger and training with Ryo. Setsuko had quite clearly heard him.

"I don't know," she replied with a yawn. She kissed him on the cheek. "I just know that whatever happens… even if we end up hating each other… I'll always love you," she said with a croaky morning voice. Naruto cracked a small smile.

"Yeah. The same goes for me. I'll love you, always."

* * *

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

A man with wavy blue hair that fell over his left eye but was still short at the back closed eyed sat cross armed next to the purple haired stranger that Naruto walked past before. His closed eyes opened to reveal red eyes.

This was Keisuke.

The purple haired man glared at the boy. Keisuke paled and started sweating. "W-what's the problem Shinbei-san!?"

The man continued glaring but then shook his head with a small smile.

"I swear, if I didn't know how good you were I wouldn't rely on you for anything, Keisuke-kun,"

"I'm sorry!" he shouted.

"It's no problem. I just need to rely on you for something…" the man said win a silky smooth voice.

"What?"

"I want you to start this war." Shinbei said which immediately caused Keisuke to panic.

"Why me?" he whined. Shinbei looked up.

"Why? You're the perfect man for the job. No matter how strong somebody is… it's the first strike that is most likely to end somebody's life… and you Keisuke-kun, are perfect for the job."

"O-okay," Keisuke said nervously. Sinbei smirked. The boy was a total wimp off the battlefield… but on it he was a ghost. "What do you want me to do?"

"We've received some information… the general, Mifune's, son is coming into the capital next week. It's meant to be a discrete thing, but we got our hands on some good info. I want you to assassinate him. That will be the spark needed. The trigger, so to speak of this conflict and then… we'll make this country a better place." He looked at Keisuke with serious eyes. "Can I trust you with this? Can I trust you with the fate of this country?"

"Yes, sir!" Keisuke said with uncharacteristic seriousness. He wouldn't let the country down!

"Alright, I'll give you the details," Shinbei said with a smirk.

* * *

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto walked down the street with a toothpick secured in between his teeth. His eyes flickered around the street.

"Shitty old man," he muttered. "He said he'd be here so why the hell isn't he?"

Naruto's eyes flickered to the street in front of him where a carriage was passing. As soon as the carriage passed, Naruto locked eyes with his master who just happened to be walking out of a building. Jogging across the road to meet him, his eyes flickered to the carriage again.

"Holy shit!" he shouted.

He saw a flash of blue jump out of an alleyway and on top on the horse drawn thing. The figure was definitely a male. _'Keisuke?' _Naruto thought in alarm. His eyes widened as he stabbed a blade through the roof and fire then spilled out of the windows of the carriage.

Keisuke disappeared without a word… but the fire was enough to confirm it for Naruto. During training, Ryo taught them chakra flow techniques. Keisuke manage to learn how to channel fire chakra through his blade. Naruto learned how to channel wind and lightning chakra and Setsuko learned how to channel lightning. This was the area that Keisuke triumphed in simply because he was so advanced with it.

Naruto's eyes locked with his master who nodded at him in return.

"I think that this might just be the start of this war," Ryo said. "That ain't groovy."

* * *

**Well, I couldn't resist making Naruto use a conical straw hat to decapitate people. That won't be the last of that, I just love the concept. He pulls it back with a chakra string.I didn't say it when he did it because... well who cares about details. Shit is going down! And I haven't forgotten about Keisuke... flashbacks of his and Naruto's relationship will come by later.**

**I think my scene between Shinbei and Naruto locking eyes might just sound a little gay. Oh well who cares? Shinbei is based off Tanaka Shinbei, one of the Four Hitokiri of the Bakumatsu. **

**Feel free to review ^_^ It'd make my day!**


	6. The start of conflict

**I felt obligated to post this chapter as quickly as I could. This chapter shows the start of the war; nothing too big yet. I've mentioned characters but not fully introduced them yet: fear not, they won't be forgotten.  
**

**Two weeks later**

Two weeks. Two weeks since Mifune's son had been assassinated. Two weeks since the beginning of this war. Two weeks of pure unease for everybody. Everybody had been on edge and for good reason. No major attacks had happened yet, but random duels breaking out on the street weren't so uncommon and travelling alone was now very foolish. Assassinations were common place. Both sides were trying to wither each other down whilst they planned more major hits. It was a free for all. Who did you trust? You had to be on guard 24/7.

The loyalists had already organised themselves quite well.

The elites were organised into five squads led by five different people. The first squad was led by Mifune himself and served the purpose of defending him as the leader of the loyalists. They were completely dedicated to their cause and would die for him without hesitation. For this reason, they did not get involved with the fighting unless absolutely necessary. As the general, Mifune controlled all the less skilled troops, too. They were the people who weren't skilled enough to be placed on a squad but were still a part of the military.

The second squad was led by Sasaki Ryo. They were a small squad with only 5 people. They were in charge of assassinations and had some of the strongest members in them (Bar the rest of the captains). They were a small and strong unit so they were also ideal for hitting Rebel strongholds without being detected. This was no doubt the most demanding squad to be in.

The third squad were in charge of healing. They were well trained in chakra healing techniques and often accompanied other squads on their missions. Their captain was a strong Samurai, Myojin Jinpachi who had seemingly retired from Samurai life and opened up a doctor's surgery but re-entered the military to protect his country. He was an honourable, if not old fashioned, man.

The fourth squad were devoted to snuffing out any major plans of the Rebels. They snuffed out potential terrorist attacks and were led by a captain by the name of Heizou Hasegawa. They were a fairly big squad and it was full of keen minds and spies.

The fifth squad were just a general combat squad. Their captain was extremely young but he was incredibly talented. It was Okita Souji. One of Naruto's best friends. He was only sixteen years old but one of the strongest people in the force and that earned him great respect. This is where most of the footsoldiers went. Souji worked as a combat instructor as well as a commander.

People weren't limited to use just swords. Some people used bows, kusarigama, naginata etc.

Naruto was in the second squad under his master. He was glad for that. Even though it was definitely going to be difficult, he didn't have to lead anybody. They also got sent on a lot of solo tasks. That would usually be unwise but in the second squad, they could handle it. Naruto himself was the second strongest member of the squad behind his master.

His master was incredibly strong. Maybe around the level of the Sandaime Hokage. He was slightly stronger than Mifune but a lot more careless. Naruto wasn't entirely sure where he stood in terms of strength. He hadn't fought to the death with too many strong opponents before. Situations in the dojo were always different to those outside of it but he had beaten all of his other squad mates in sparring.

He sighed as he exited his thoughts, looking up. He was sitting on the ground against the wall of an inn.

"Somethin' on yer' mind, blondie?" asked Ryo who had just walked into the room and sat next to him. He had his hair down for a change. It was short at the back and completely straight. He had a lock falling in between his eyes but it was mostly swept to the side so it would stay out of his eyes. He was still wearing his red rimmed glasses lowly so they perched above his nose. He didn't look so stupid anymore.

The uniform was a pale blue kimono with gray hakama over them. The hakama were tucked into shin high black boots. Gray armguards were worn and they wore w white haori with the kanji for 'three wolves' on the back. Three wolves signified the place where Iron country was located: among the three mountains named the three wolves.

Both Naruto and Ryo wore this; the only difference was that their Haori had fur trimmings on them.

"No… I'm just anxious," Naruto replied unusually coldly. This was his way of dealing with pressure.

"I s'pose you would be, a wet behind the ears kid like you," Ryo remarked. Naruto grunted but he couldn't really deny it.

"Yeah, well, I don't think the battles are the most nervewracking thing about this… or the burden of the country on our shoulders. No, the most nervewracking thing for me is the waiting. The feeling of wondering if something is going to happen, y'know. At least when you're fighting you're not thinking what if,"

Ryo nodded sagely. "I always found that the hardest part of war and the loss of comrades. Endure it. That's all ya can do."

"Mhmm," Naruto hummed. There was nothing else he could do, so there was no point in trying to do anything.

"If it makes ya feel any better, I've got somethin' for you ta do tonight," Ryo informed his student. Naruto perked up in anticipation.

"Somebody spotted a group of rebels headin' into an inn on the opposite side of the city. There ain't gonna be any leaders there… at least I don't think so. We had somebody check it out. I want you to take em' out at 11 o'clock tonight." Ryo said seriously.

Naruto nodded. What had to be done, had to be done and he wouldn't hesitate to do it.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Setsuko was pissed.

She was having an okay time. She was drinking some sake alone. In peace.

A bunch of Rebels were at restaurant, discussing their plans in code. She wanted no part of it. At least, not at the moment. She had made a few friends within the rebels but she wasn't truly close to anybody. There weren't many other females on her side so she felt quite isolated.

So when an idiotic pretty boy approached her she was not in the mood to deal with it.

"No," she shot back coldly.

"Don't be like that, baby. It's a war… you'll never know when you'll lose your life so why don't you want to have any fun?"

Setsuko snapped her eyes open and shot a fierce glare at him with her rage filled red eyes. "Fuck off, you limp-dicked bastard!" she shouted. His face contorted in rage.

"You stupid girl. Why are you here if you aren't even gonna fulfill your duty?" he growled. Setsuko tensed her grip on her saké bottle so hard it crushed in her hand.

"Do you want to die today?" she whispered dangerously.

He stood up and went to draw his sword. Setsuko's hand grasped her katana's hilt to draw it, but before she could do anything an old man appeared in front of the annoying lady's man. The old man's hand pushed the boy's hand down and forced him to re draw his sword.

Setsuko got a good look at the man. He was wearing a brown kimono and beige hakama. He was about 6'2 and he had heavy muscle yet he was still able to move that quickly qz He was bald on the top of his head but had a braided ponytail running down the back of his neck.

"Youngsters these days… eh?" he chuckled. "No means no, child," his tone went from playful to deadly and his purple eyes hardened.

"Child? I'm twent-," he started to say incredulously but froze when he felt the man's killing intent.

"I don't care how old you are. Go if you want to live!"

The boy nodded up and down rapidly and scurried away like a rat.

"Oh to be young," the man sang underneath his breath. "How are you, miss...?"

"Setsuko." she said briefly. She turned her harsh eyes to the man, "I can take care of myself, thank you very much."

"Oh I had no doubt that you could," the man said jovially. "But you would probably have killed him and we need all the manpower we can get."

"How did you know?" she asked in surprise.

"Well… you remind me of my late wife. Brutal…" he shivered. Setsuko nodded with an amused grin on her face. It wasn't a big grin, just a twitch of the lips.

"Well, I can't deny it. What's your name?" she said bluntly.

"Heh, it's Ganryu. You get straight to the point, don't you?"

"Well, there's no point in beating around the bush," she muttered, looking at the ceiling briefly. That brought back memories of Naruto. She always made assumptions when he came to speak to her, even if it was a rare time when he wasn't teasing or trying to annoy her.

"True enough," he chuckled. "Mind if I take a seat here? All those young'uns are too noisy for me. At least you know the blissfulness of peace. You'll begin to fully appreciate it when you reach an old and wise age like me."

"If I reach an old and wise age," she sighed.

"Now, now, no need to be so pessimistic, dear."

"Not so much pessimistic as I am realistic," she shrugged. "There's a difference. It's small, but it's there. If you look close enough, anyway."

Ganryu raised an eyebrow as she took a gulp of sake straight from the bottle. It was a stupid habit she got from Ryo. She wasn't even buzzed yet. A plus of being raised by an alcoholic for the later years of your childhood was that your resistance became pretty good when he kept on accidentally giving it to you. Naruto had the best resistance of them all; He had been enduring that since he was five. She suspected that he wised up rather quickly, but actually wanted to drink saké.

If he became a second Ryo when he was older, she wouldn't be surprised.

"Hm, you're a heavy drinker, aren't you?"

"Not really," she admitted with a sigh.

"Well you can hold your sake well, that's for sure. You really do remind me of my wife."

"She sounds like a charming woman," Setsuko said drily.

"She was," the old man replied with a far off expression. Setsuko realised that his wife was dead and her eyes widened a little.

"I'm sorry to bring up old memories," she said apologetically.

"It's no problem. Remembering your loved ones ain't a bad thing," Ganryu smiled.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

Setsuko walked along the street with Ganryu. It was night time and they had spent a lot of the day together. She was glad to have finally made a friend. He was a wise and funny man who she felt comfortable with. She was glad she met him. He was a good person.

Her thoughts turned to this war. Was it really worth it? Everybody was just fighting for what they truly believed in. Were they dying for no reason. Was there another way?

"You got a dark look on your face, Setsuko-chan," Ganryu said. She snapped out of her zoned out state and looked at the old man. "Care to tell me what you're thinking about?"

She took a look at the full moon in the air briefly, not looking at the man as she spoke. "It's nothing, really," she said pensively, "It's just… why did you join the rebellion?" she asked after a bit of hesitation.

"Heh, loads of people will give you different noble answers like 'I'm fighting for the honour and pride of my country' and many other admirable things like that. My reason, though, is different. It's more selfish than anything," he admitted. "I came from a poor blacksmith's family and I carry on that business to this day. We aren't getting that much income… we rely on the ninja for a lot of the stuff we make but our trading bonds with the countries are weak. If they were stronger, then we would get more income," He paused. "I don't care about money. It only brings trouble, but my granddaughter is giving birth soon. The baby's father is dead and she has no way to provide for herself. I want to see her live a life without worrying if she has enough money to feed her child. I want to see her give birth. To smile. I want to see my great grandchild live a happy life. If I don't do what I can, then how can I look my great grandchild in the eyes when I hold them, knowing I did nothing to protect their precious innocence. How can I ever face my struggling great granddaughter again? I just want them to be happy."

By the end of the speech, Ganryu's eyes were watering slightly. Setsuko had a contemplative expression on her face before it set into a determined expression. Her resolve had hardened.

"You have to fight for what you believe in, right?" she asked. He nodded briefly. "Then I won't hesitate anymore… I can pay for all my sins in hell, but I'll do what I think is right in this life."

"Atta girl," he smiled. "Well, I'm going to head back to the inn. They're playing Mahjong and I want in," he smiled. "Wanna come?"

"I never was too fond of gambling." she admitted. "Maybe because my… friend was so good at it that I could never win."

"Friend? Oh a boyfriend?" he said slyly.

"... No," she said uneasily. He knew that carrying on with that line of conversation would not be wise.

"Well, I'm off. I'll see you another time, hopefully."

"Yeah, I hope so," she replied with a small smile.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto stared at the inn with detached eyes. He had his conical straw hat on so his features were mostly hidden. He approached it, sliding open the door. He was greeted by the sight of an old woman. She was either in her late 50s or early 60s and she had her hair in a bun. She was wearing a brown yukata and she had a warm smile on her face.

"What can I do for you, young man," she smiled.

"Can I get a room for tonight?" He said, his cold facade dropping and a charming grin on his face.

"Of course you can," the woman said. "We only have one room left, but that shouldn't be a problem."

"Right, thanks," he said, pulling out his wallet. He have her the right amount of money and signed in, looking at the other names as he did.

'Ashido Hayate'

'Furu Ganryu'

'Mishima Goro'

He only recognised one name on there, Furu Ganryu. He couldn't place where, though.

Ah, that was it. One time when he was about seven, Ryo was talking about the previous war he fought in and how he fought alongside a very honourable man by the same name. It must be a coincidence because the man would be around 70 at this point in time because if he remembered Ryo saying he was quite old by Samurai standards at the time…

Well, It didn't matter.

He walked up the stairs with the precise steps of a predator. He pushed the blade out of his sheath slightly with his thumb so only about a centimetre of the blade was exposed. He finally found his way to the door where he could hear the most ruckus.

Inside the room people were laughing jovially, drinking and gambling. There were only four people in there, all sitting around a table. There was one man, about 30 years old with a low ponytail and sharp grey eyes. He was wearing a navy blue kimono with white Hakama.

There was also a woman, attached to his arm. She was quite beautiful. Silky black hair, rouged lips and a heart shaped face. She was wearing a pink kimono. The next person was a brown haired boy of about 18 years old. He was wearing standard black samurai robes.

The last man was a rather jolly looking Ganryu. They all had their swords resting besides them.

The black haired man noticed the silhouette in the sliding door. He grasped his sword and stood up. The others all looked at the door and followed suit.

They tensed as it opened to reveal a teenage blonde boy, still wearing his hat inside.

"It's just a brat," the black haired man sneered.

"I'm sorry," Naruto said. "But today is the day you die."

"Like hell!" the same man yelled, rushing Naruto with his sword raised.

"No!" Ganryu yelled, but it was too late. Naruto drew his wakizashi in a horizontal arc before his attacker could even touch him. The man's eyes went wide as he stumbled behind Naruto like a drunken man.

"What…?" he rasped, before blood spurted from his midsection and his torso was gorily separated from his waist. The woman screamed in horror and the teenager growled.

"Bastard!" he yelled. Naruto didn't react, but simply held his wakizashi in his hand to the side of him loosely and watched as the slightly older boy charged him. The brown brown haired boy thrusted his blade at him, but his eyes went wide as Naruto ducked downwards and went to deliver a slow upwards slash from the bottom. Reacting quickly, he changed the course of his blade to clash with Naruto's.

He didn't have time to be surprised when the Naruto he saw vanished into nothingness and his blade passed through the image harmlessly.

Naruto twisted on the balls of his feet and channeled wind chakra through his blade. He decapitated the boy with the back of his blade. Luckily, none of the blood got on him as he did so. He turned his stony blue eyes to the woman and sent an intense concentrated killing intent on her, freezing her on the spot.

His eyes flickered to Ganryu.

"That style… you must be Ryo's student," he said with closed eyes.

"And you must be Ganryu… my master told me about you. I saw your name in the sign in book and dismissed it as a coincidence … but you're around the right age."

"That I am," he said. "But enough talk," he said with finality, grabbing his wakizashi and putting his katana in his belt. Wakizashi were used to fight indoors.

He unsheathed his blade and held the sheath in front of his face and the blade to the side. Naruto slipped into his usual stance, holding the blade downwards in one hand and his other resting on the hilt.

They both charged at each other with a shout and and Naruto's blade disappeared from his hand, appearing again in an upwards thrust where Naruto's blade clashed with Ganryu's sheath. The old man went to swing his wakizashi at Naruto with his other hand, but Naruto grabbed his sheath from his belt, knees buckling under Ganryu's strength and swung it against Ganryu's wakizashi.

They both recoiled from the collision and returned to their stances. Naruto couldn't see Ganryu's face because his wakizashi's sheath was held in front of his face.

'_Where? Where is he going to attack from? Left? Right? Below?' _Naruto thought. All of a sudden the man blurred into action, attacking from both left and right with his sheath and blade from either side. He was shocked when his weapons did nothing and he phased through Naruto's form like the young swordsman was a phantom.

Now behind him, Naruto lashed out from behind which was surprisingly blocked by the man but the old man recoiled from the force. Naruto narrowed his eyes and saw that his guard was down. Naruto stomped on the ground with his leading leg. Ganryu saw a blade flash across him horizontally and froze completely.

'_No, I can't die yet!' _He thought desperately. Blood spurted from his body, but not horizontally. A vertical slash from his head to chest appeared. _'I'm sorry, Akiko. I guess I'll be seeing you soon, Tomoe.'_

Ganryu collapsed and his body split in half. Naruto tilted his head downwards so the bloodspray got on his straw hat, not his clothes. He looked at his opponent's corpse apathetically, before turning to the still frozen woman.

She sweated under his gaze. "N-no!" she shouted. Naruto approached her slowly. To her, he looked like a demon, blood dripping from his sword, the shadows coating his body and the visage of a tiger appearing above him, snarling at her.

"You were in the wrong place at the wrong time," Naruto droned. She started crying and went to shout but before she could, Naruto cut her down without any remorse whatsoever.

"You should've stayed at home"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"The damn loyalist bastards got Hayate, Goro and Ganryu," a man yelled, running into a bar.

"What?" One of them yelled. Setsuko's eyes widened at the back but her fists clenched angrily.

"Do you know who did it?" she asked lowly, making all eyes go to her.

"We don't have any names, but the innkeeper said it was most likely a blonde teenager."

"Teenager," a man snorted. "Ganryu was strong. No way he could be taken out by a teenager."

Setsuko's punched the table angrily.

'_Why him? Why Naruto?'_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The snowy street was dim. Three people walked down it, all wielding swords. They were engaged meaningless chatter as they went along to get to their destination.

"Once this war is over, I'll finally be able to propose to her. I mean, I could do it now but I want it to be the best it can be for her," A young man with black hair and blue eyes said. He was wearing typical samurai garb.

"Yeah, be sure to invite me, eh?" His companion replied.

"You just want the free food," the other companion snorted.

"Well, maybe…" he replied sheepishly. They all chuckled, but stopped when they saw a figure standing in the middle of the street, coated in shadows. They all drew their blades.

"Who are you?" the man in the middle asked suspiciously.

"Your death, Nakamura Shirusuke," the figure replied coldly. The shadows eased up and a conical hat was visible along with the loyalist uniform.

"Bastard! You die today!" one shouted. "Shirusuke, stay back! You're his target! one shouted. Both of the people on either side charged at the shadowy figure.

He simply grabbed his conical hat and threw it as it blazed past both of the men. It revealed shaggy blonde hair, blue eyes and whisker marks. Shirusuke dodged it, barely, but the other two's heads slipped off their shoulders.

Before Shirusuke could do anything, Naruto jerked his hand back and he was decapitated from behind.

Nakamura Shirusuke was the son of the Nakamura clan head who was on death's door already, meaning that his position as the next head was almost secured. So far, they had been neutral in the whole conflict, but it was almost guaranteed that Shirusuke would ally with the rebels.

They were going to join the rebels regardless, but assassinating all possible clan heads would cause chaos within the clan and ultimately would weaken them.

What had to be done, had to be done.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto watched as a courtyard full of people trained at four in the morning. He sat next to Souji who was watching them, observing their movements.

"You've become quite infamous among the rebels, Naruto," Souji said offhandedly.

"I never noticed," Naruto deadpanned.

"If you weren't blonde then you could have stayed underground for longer. Sadly, that is not the case. I think you're the only blonde in Iron country, Kiroii Akuma (Yellow demon)."

"You're just jealous that I got a kick ass title, So-chan," Naruto smirked. Souji glared at him, but didn't reply. Naruto snickered.

"Faster!" Souji shouted, urging the samurai on. They all nodded and went on faster. As soon as the attention was off him, Souji started coughing up blood. Naruto immediately rushed over to him.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Souji shook his head.

"It's nothing," he said, cleaning his hand with a handkerchief.

Naruto glared at him, but then rushed off with the intention of getting his friend some water.

**There was a fight against a strong opponent here, heh. Don't be surprised if fights between strong people don't last that long. After all, it only takes one good strike to kill somebody. There won't be too many extended fights which last more than a few moves... the ones that will be extended will be against people who are familiar with other people's styles and such, like rivals and people who have seen each other's fighting styles before.**

** The purpose of this chapter, I guess was to give some of the people that Naruto kills an identity. It's easy to say that he's following what he believes in so he's doing the right thing, how easy is it to say that when what he believes in affects more than just the people that he's killed and that everybody is doing what they believe in... I'm not really confident that I got that through well in my writing.**

**Feel free to review ^_^ It'd make my day!**


	7. Chapter 7

Naruto sat around a table with other prominent members of the loyalists: strong members and the captains. The room was modest: it wasn't too large or too small and six people were sitting around it, eating their food. They were engaging in chatter relevant to the war and were all uncomfortably serious. They were located in the loyalist base. They often stayed there, but not all the time: having a set base was reckless and they had a few others scattered around the city. There was Ryo and Naruto who often stayed at inns, but that was becoming less and less due to the risk. Rebels often gathered in inns and while it gave the loyalists some idea as to where they actually were, it lessened the amount of places that they could tread safely around the city. Walk around alone and you may find yourself ambushed. It was a double edged sword.

The eight people at the table were Naruto, who was sitting next to Souji and another woman next to him. He had his eyes closed as he listened to the chatter in silence, systematically chowing down on some rice.

The next person was Souji who occasionally added in his input when he could, but like Naruto was silent for the most part.

Ryo had three bowls stacked up to next to him and was vigorously shovelling mouthfuls of rice down his throat. He took a look to the side and picked up a saké bottle, washing the food down with a gulp straight from the bottle. Some people watched in morbid fascination as Ryo ate like a wild beast.

Mifune was sitting at the head of the table in a composed and dignified manner. It was fitting for a man of his stature. He was leading the discussion, directing it as it went.

The next person was Heizou Hasegawa, a severe looking middle aged man with a shaved head. like everybody else, except for Mifune, who was wearing green Samurai garbs, he was wearing the standard outfit of the loyalists. He added in logical, sensible and blunt opinions when the time was right.

The last person was a beautiful woman by the name of Yukiko Megumi. She had dark red, almost black hair that was let down so it lounged on her back carelessly, almost elegantly. She had dark green blue eyes that could be mistaken for black. Her lips were plump and a strawberry bed. She was wearing the standard outfit for the loyalists but some how it accentuated her curves. A mesh shirt was visible underneath it so her decently sized bust was not exposed. She was a member of the third squad but she was as strong as a member of the second squad. She was just extremely skilled in healing and that was rare - and desperately needed.

Opening his eyes and speaking for the first time, Naruto asked, "Where's Jinpachi?"

Megumi turned to him with raised eyebrows. "Worried about him, are you?"

"Nope," Naruto denied. "It's just he never misses out on food. Or the chance to steal mine," he said. Megumi giggled; it was true. Jinpachi always claimed that 'his old bones needed it more' and stole either Naruto or Souji's food. That never failed to piss Naruto off and always served to provide some entertainment for them at dinner time.

"The number of attacks on us has increased as of late. Rebels have reportedly been seen to be using ninjutsu and it's catching a lot of us off guard. Taichou is working overtime to treat our men's wounds,"

"Really?" Naruto muttered. "I haven't seen that yet. Or heard about it."

"We were just talking about it," Hasegawa deadpanned.

"We were?" a voice said. A voice that wasn't Naruto. It was Ryo, who was in the middle of chewing a mouthful of food.

"Oh, Ryo," Mifune sighed.

"Don't sound disappointed when you say my name you bag a bones. That ain't groovy," Ryo snarled. Naruto snorted.

"Bag of bones? That's rich coming from you, you old fossil." Ryo turned to his student with a blank look on his face.

"Do you want me to tell everybody about that time when you were five…?"

"Don't you dare!" Naruto shouted. Souji smirked from beside him.

"Oh, do tell, Ryo-dono," the captain of the fifth squad said with an amused grin in his face.

"So, why aren't you working overtime, too, Megumi?" Naruto asked quickly, wanting to change the subject.

"Don't try to change the sub-," Ryo started but stopped when he saw Naruto's glare.

"Say anymore, and i will pour the contents of your sake bottle down your dickhole," Naruto threatened darkly.

"Kinky…" Megumi breathed, licking her lips. Naruto shuffled away from her a little. _'Is she… enjoying the thought of that…? What sort of things is she in to?'_

Megumi snapped out of her trance and looked at Naruto, "It's because I have to do everything for him. He is the laziest man I have ever met and he just blames it on his old age," she crossed her arms childishly and huffed. "Can you believe that?"

Naruto smirked. "I'd do exactly the same thing… I just wouldn't expect that from him. He talks so much about honour and pride, but he is so willing to toss off his workload to somebody else. Is that what they did 'back in his day'?"

Mifune restrained laughter and Ryo grinned. Hasegawa ignored it to the best of his ability, but his lips twitched upwards.

"Now's not the time to get nostalgic," Naruto teased. Mifune cleared his throat, making everybody look at him. That was a sign that he wanted to talk about something serious and in an instant, he had everybody's attention.

"The rebel leaders have vanished off the radar. Katsura and the strongest members of the rebellion have disappeared. I have reason to suspect that they are planning something. Something big. Hasegawa-dono. I want you to look into it for me. On paper we have been winning this war, if you're looking at it in an attritional standpoint. However, the true strength of the rebels are unknown. They haven't revealed any of their cards," Mifune said seriously.

Hasegawa nodded resolutely. "I will look into it immediately. I, too shared similar concerns," he said humbly.

Naruto was now disinterested, but he was listening. Deciding to add his input, he spoke up. "Isn't the daimyo coming here in a few days?"

Hasegawa's eyes went wide. "They couldn't be…? It would be a foolish move, but we can't just dismiss it. We will need to increase the security," he said urgently.

"Yes, I was thinking the same," Mifune said. "To win, they would need the support of the Daimyo and on the surface it would be illogical to make a move against him, but the Daimyo only has a young heir who is very inexperienced. He would be easy to manipulate. If they somehow managed to get close enough to him, then essentially, we would become the rebels. They'd get funding from the Daimyo and a massive boost in morale. By all means, we must stop this from happening."

The mood remained serious for the rest of the night. This had to be handled with the utmost care.

* * *

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

A young man wearing white robes sat in a seiza position on a cushion. He had long charcoal black hair, a slim face and sharp, slanted black eyes. His face was set into a firm from. This was Katsura Kogoro. The leader of the rebels in Iron country.

Sitting in front of him were two men, Shinbei and Keisuke.

"So, we'll launch the attack on the Daimyo," he said calmly.

"Yes, they loyalists may already be expecting it, but it is a necessary move." Shinbei said with an easygoing smile, like he was catching up with an old friend. "If we succeed, then we can plant advisors in the Daimyo's court to 'advise' the heir. It could be a major turning point and the war could be over very soon if that happens."

Katsura nodded, "Yes, I feel bad about manipulating a child but it is for the good of the country. If all goes well, we won't have to use _that _plan."

Shinbei closed his eyes. "Yes, I hope it doesn't come to that. It will take about a year to prepare, though. Maybe we could end it before that?"

"That's just wishful thinking."

Keisuke blinked. "What's _that _plan?"

"Nothing you need to worry about now," Katsura dismissed, giving Keisuke a look that told him not to go any further.

"Y-yes, sir!" he shouted. Shinbei rubbed his temples.

"Fucking idiot," he whispered, making Keisuke hug him from the side.

"Shinbei-san! Why are you so mean!?"

"Enough you pair of fools," Katsura commanded tiredly. "What I'm asking is if you'd lead the charge, Shinbei, Keisuke. You two are the most suited for the job. Keisuke, the first strike is your speciality and Shinbei… You're an army killer."

"O-Only us two!?" Keisuke squeaked in surprise.

"No you idiot," Shinbei sighed, rubbing his temples. "We're going to have a few hundred men, with us. Maybe a thousand."

Katsura nodded. "A thousand. Even if it doesn't succeed, we can take out some of the stronger members of the loyalists by overwhelming them with numbers. One good soldier is worth a thousand fodder. If we manage to eliminate even one then this won't be all for nothing. There'll be at least 3 high ranking members protecting the Daimyo. Keisuke, this is where you come in."

Keisuke just nodded with wide open eyes.

"During the chaos, you can maybe catch one of them off guard. You are the one most suited for this. After all, you're style revolves around it, no?"

"Y-yeah, the **Yuurei Sakki-ryu **(Ghost killing intent style) is my personal style. I was never as good as Naruto when it came to pure kenjutsu. I found it difficult to produce killing intent. I could only use the most basic attacks of the style. However, I capitalised on that. I worked on producing the least amount of killing intent possible so I become unnoticeable."

Katsura nodded in respect. "A very good concept. It was said that it was Ryo-dono's intention whilst making the style, but he was unable to do it. I assume this Naruto is the Kiiroi Akuma?"

"Yeah, probably. I don't know any other blondes and he is skilled enough," Keisuke said seriously.

"Just how strong is he?" Katsura said with narrowed eyes.

"I'm not sure. At this moment, Setsuko is more skilled than he was when we left. But… he was more skilled than her then. I don't know how much he has improved. though. He's still 15 and he has a lot more room to grow."

"Fifteen? He's a real threat. We'll need to get rid of him," Shinbei commented. "I think I know what he looks like. I saw a boy for the briefest of seconds a couple of months ago and I couldn't shake the feeling that I was going to meet him again one day. When I looked into his eyes and felt his swordsman spirit, all I could see was a sabertooth tiger judging my worth. It excites me, to see such beasts in ones so young," he purred. "Come to think of it, your sister is strong. Why don't we use her for this, too?"

"No," Katsura denied instantly. "We won't use her or the other hitokiri yet."

"Why?" Shinbei whined.

"Because… we need them somewhere else." Katsura said cautiously.

"Somewhere else?" He narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"During the chaos of the attack, we'll have the 3 infiltrate the loyalist base and take out as many as they can from within after the battle when their guards are lowered."

"That's a suicide mission!" Keisuke shouted angrily. "You can't be so reckless when it comes to things like that! What the hell are you thinking!?"

"Their orders are to withdraw as soon as possible and take out as many as they can along the way. Leaving the loyalists a little present along the way.," Katsura stated calmly. "We have escape routes planned. It wasn't easy, but I got my hands on the blueprints of the base."

Keisuke glared; his ferocious side was coming out on behalf of his sister.

"Get her killed and you're next," Keisuke threatened, the shadows seemingly covering his body as his red eyes bored holes through Katsura like lasers. Leader or not, his sister was more important to him than anything.

Katsura's eyes widened in surprise before his lips twitched upwards.

'_So he's got a backbone after all.'_

* * *

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto sat on the ground in front of Souji and Ryo who were standing up. He had his eyes closed as he concentrated on everything around him. He had a horrible feeling. He felt like something was going to happen and he didn't like it one bit.

"So us three?"

"Yup," Ryo said.

"I'm not sure if it's overkill or if it isn't enough," Naruto said uneasily.

"Dunno," Ryo said. "It don't matter, we'll get it done regardless."

Naruto nodded. "So, how are we organising ourselves?"

"Me and Souji are gonna be guardin' the daimyo. Naruto, you'll trail behind. Make yourself inconspicuous… Follow us from the crowds."

"So, you'll be the show of strength since you're both captains and I'll be supporting you from the shadows. Makes sense."

"That's the jist of it," Souji said.

"Well I can do that," Naruto hummed.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Shinbei stood in front of a massive crowd of people in an open field in the middle of nowhere. They were all armed to the teeth. Bows, swords, spears. There was something for everybody. he walked up and down along them and they all stood straight in respect.

"Today, we have an opportunity." He said loud enough so everybody could hear him, amplifying his voice with chakra. "An opportunity to make a difference."

He paused and looked at random members of the crowd intently in the eyes before scanning over each and every one of them. "An opportunity to change this country for the better. An opportunity to end this senseless violence right now."

Shinbei glared harshly. "Whether this opportunity is put to good use or not is purely up to your efforts. Are you willing to fight and die for your country? Are you prepared to spill blood to elevate Iron country to new heights? To make Iron country a place where you don't have to worry about whether you can feed your children every night, where we can treat our sick properly and where we don't hold ourselves back due to outdated codes of honour and justice. Are you willing to make the land of our ancestors truly prosper?"

He was met by a chorus of enthusiastic agreement.

"We are not heroes. We can't guarantee the safety of civilians. We do horrible things. When a light shines brightly, the shadows are darker. We will be the shadow of the bright light that is the new Iron country. We will bare the sins of today, to create a new tomorrow! Follow me into battle and use your swords to carve a better future!" Shinbei roared, uplifting the spirits of his troops.

It was time.

* * *

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Lines of armoured soldiers stood throughout the streets of the capital. Civilians lined up in wonder, waiting behind them to see what the commotion was about. Excited chatter could be heard as they were all anticipating what was to come.

"An important person?"

"The Daimyo?"

"An aristocrat?"

Everybody was speculating as to what was happening but it wasn't hard to figure out. Why did nobles have to be so damn flamboyant about everything? It was stupid and they needed to learn discretion. Then maybe all these assassination attempts wouldn't happen to them. Or they would at least be less common place.

Naruto waited behind the lines of people, wearing his clothes he wore when he was not wearing his uniform. He had his conical straw hat masking his face and was fiddling with his swords mindlessly. He was subjected to a lot of suspicious stares from the guards but he couldn't care less.

The feeling of unease was worse than ever and Naruto could not shake this horrible feeling. His hand started shaking on the hilt of his blade uncontrollably. He looked down with confused eyes and grabbed it with his settled hand.

Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down he looked out for the carriage. He could hear the galloping of a horse and he immediately concentrated. Tensing slightly, he started walking behind the crowd at a slow pace.

Finally the convoy was visible. There was a man riding on a horse at the front. He was armed with a sword and had a bow and arrows on his back. Following slightly behind him was a horse drawn carriage. It had an open top at the back and in it was Iron country's Daimyo wearing ceremonial robes. He was a good man, he wasn't greedy and genuinely had the country's best interests at heart but he was a little arrogant and idiotic. He basked in the attention of the country and loved it. It was like he couldn't understand the position he was in, or he could understand it but dismissed it because he believed nothing could happen to him.

Walking on either side of the carriage was Ryo and Souji, looking completely serious and scanning the area for threats. They both caught Naruto's presence and looked away as soon as they saw him, but Naruto knew the meaning of that look. It said _'It's time'._

A chorus of cheers was heard, the public showering the Daimyo with affection and praises. Naruto's eyes narrowed. That was too much, even for the Daimyo. A lot of it sounded plastic, nut Naruto couldn't pinpoint a specific group. They were all scattered.

His stomach churned.

Something was wrong.

He drew his blade.

He felt a build up of chakra and looked on the roofs of the buildings. His eyes were wide as he spotted rows of soldiers all around him. Planted his katana into the ground and pumped wind chakra in it. He sprinted, leaving a massive wall of wind trailing behind him as he dragged his blade through the ground. Kunai with explosive tags were blown back at the people on the roof who were were the ones who threw them.

But Naruto could only do so much.

He looked at the other side of the road and saw the kunai approach the Daimyo. A series of explosions rained on his position. The smoke eventually cleared up and everything was completely fine. Ryo had protected them with a wind barrier. That wasn't the main problem here.

No, the problem was the 'civilians'.

All along the crowd, random civilians turned out to be rebel members as they assassinated a good half of the samurai on guard. This was not good. Naruto couldn't tell civilian from rebel. He had a good idea of who was a rebel, because the civilians were running away, screaming and the rebels were not but people could get caught in the crossfire.

There was no helping it. If there were civilian casualties then so be it. The rebels seemed to have no reservations on getting them involved and if Naruto worried about that, he'd be at a disadvantage.

There was no other choice, he'd have to go all out. He had enough space to.

His stance changed from his usual basic one. His legs were bent a little lower than normal. His left leg was in front of his right one. The right side of his body was turned away and his blade was held tilting slightly downwards behind him.

This was his true personal style. **Sakki no Yajuu-ryu (Killing intent of the Beast style).** It capitalised on his pure instinct and reaction time and was a lot more free form than the basic style. It fitted Naruto perfectly.

He briefly took his hand off his blade and gently grasped his straw hat. With a grunt, he threw it and it decapitated lines of none the wiser people. The people who he targeted were the rebels disguised as civilians. Who expects a random flying hat to kill them? Naruto jerked his hand back and the hat returned to him. He put on his head once more.

Literally, as soon as it was on his head, he charged forward, cutting as many people down as he could unnoticed for as long as possible. He was interrupted when his blade was blocked by somebody who was holding there sword horizontally. He simply 'Tsked' and took a hand of his hilt. He infused his limbs with chakra to increase his strength a little and then put a hand on the back of his sword's tip.

He pushed it down, so it was pointing at the man and the man's sword slipped against his and landed on his guard. Naruto's tip of his blade was just in front of his face and the man could see it just in front of his face.

Naruto smirked. "Assassination technique," he called out. He pulled away slightly and the man stumbled forward. All of a sudden, Naruto's body twisted in motion and with a powerful thrust, his blade was impaled through the man's head. "One inch murder." he whispered. The next row of people were all aware of his presence now, and had swords at the ready. There was about fifty of them and they looked pissed.

In a show of confidence, Naruto licked his bloody blade slightly with a crazed look in his eyes. "You're next," he promised them. He wasn't actually insane; it was just a good intimidation tactic. They shuffled nervously.

Naruto gripped his blade and blurred forward in a wave of motion. Before they could even blink, three men were down. Naruto's face hidden by his hat as his face was tilted downwards.

Naruto saw the group running at him. He returned the favour, matching their speed as he approached then. Naruto neared the first man in the group, both of them with their swords raised. As they went to strike each other, the man thrusted through Naruto, only to find his sword hit nothing but air. He blinked when he couldn't see the teen, but had no time to ponder where he was as his head was violently removed from his body.

Naruto appeared behind him and everybody's eyes widened as his blade glowed a faint blue and he swung his blade, hitting nothing. However, they didn't notice the wind chakra, extending the blade's length and without a word, ten people's heads fell.

In the spray of blood, Naruto charged forward, planting his blade through an unsuspecting man's stomach. The man's eyes went wide as he looked down to see Naruto looking up at him with a dark look in his eyes.

Not taking the blade out of the man, he whispered, "Wind spear," he announced, a long blade of wind, tearing through the line of people behind him but Naruto wasn't finished as he jerked the man's body to the side and killed a few more people as the blade swung but a few ducked the attack.

Naruto spotted a blade coming from his side and he ducked, letting go of his sword from one of his hands and delivering a swift jab to the attacker's face. He then kicked the body from off his blade with his back foot like a donkey and swung his blade at the stunned man in a horizontal arc with one hand, killing him instantly.

There were about 20 men left. Naruto's eyes turned to the side briefly, seeing a big staircase. He could make this easier for himself. To get there, He'd have to deal with about 6 more people but that wouldn't be a problem.

Charging forward, he cut the men down as he ran and started running at a constant speed up the steps.

The group followed him up there, but they couldn't use numbers to their advantage. The stairs were too narrow meaning that they had to fight him one on one. That was not successful for them as Naruto cut each of them down one at a time. As each man died, their bodies tumbled down the stairs.

By the end of it, they were all dead and Naruto was covered in blood. He stared at his hands. _'50 people… like nothing. Is this the true nature of humans? I don't feel an ounce of regret.'_

He shook his head. Now was not the time. He sprinted down the steps to see what was happening with the Daimyo. As he approached a chaotic site, he couldn't go further as he was stopped. He glanced over the man's shoulders as he spotted what was going on.

Ryo was leading a group of Samurai who were protecting the Daimyo. Souji was fighting Keisuke and dead bodies were strewn all across the floor.

Naruto glared at the man in front of him.

Purple hair in a high ponytail, a goatee and he was wearing a dark blue short sleeved gi. He had his hairy chest exposed and he was wearing loose blue martial artist pants that ended above his ankles. He had a loose, high collared Haori sitting on his shoulders, being worn like a cape with his arms not in the sleeves. He had four swords tucked into his belt A katana and wakizashi on either side. That was strange.

"Maa, maa, I think you won't be going any further, eh, Naruto-san?"

"Tanaka Shinbei," Naruto said, narrowing his eyes.

"Oh, you've heard of me?"

"Of course I have… but now isn't the time to be making friendly conversation. Now is the time to fight."

The man smirked and threw his haori on the ground. He slipped into a battojutsu stance.

"As you wish, tiger boy."

Their swordsman aura flared and an ethereal dragon appeared over the man's form in all it's glory. It's body was a dark red, almost burgundy and its body was a thick, scaly, and serpentine. It had golden eyes and was judging Naruto for all his worth.

Over Naruto's form, a muscled tiger appeared behind him. It had a bulky back and looked ready to pounce. It had orange fur with black stripes decorating his body and the tiger's fanged mouth snarled at his opponent.

"Your luck has run out today, dragon bastard." Naruto declared.

**I suck at politics and war tactics... which is actually quite pathetic as I study history but, I did the best that I could. Heh, I finally revealed Naruto's true style. The reason he didn't use it against Ganryu is because he was indoors and it is not as good indoors as well, it requires a lot of space to use. Next chapter, I'll show some other battles. Namely Naruto vs Shinbei, Souji vs Keisuke and defending the Daimyo with Ryo.**

**Naruto doesn't know where he stands in terms of strength, but I'll tell you now that he is around pre-shippuden Kakashi's level. Like, how strong he was against Zabuza. However, throughout the war he'll get a lot stronger so there's room for character growth.**

**So, that's that. Sorry if you found it lacking or boring. Feel free to review ^_^**


	8. Chapter 8

**This chapter is definitely eventful... it was a lot of fun. To whoever said this was plagiarism and was a copy of Rurouni Kenshin. I don't see it. They're not wearing shinsengumi uniforms, the fighting styles of Keisuke and Seta Soujiro are not similar and mine is loosely based off history... much like Rurouni Kenshin is. I'm not going to completely change their roles just for the hell of it. By the same logic, pretty much every other Samurai series that has some historical relevance is a rip off of Rurouni Kenshin... even Gintama. If you still feel that this is a copy, then, whatever but don't go coming up with parallels that just aren't there. It feels like you're clutching at straws to find some similarities.**

**That being said, I'll be more mindful in the future and I hope to prove that this story is my own and I appreciate that you gave me some constructive criticism. It really helps.**

**To the guest who said Keisuke is stronger than Naruto, he really isn't.**

* * *

**With Ryo and Souji**

"Fuck!" Ryo shouted. He grasped his sword and drew it so fast that the blade was little more than a blur. A sphere of wind surrounded him, Souji and the Daimyo's carriage. Kunai with explosive tags bounced off the wind, flying off course and exploding harmlessly.

"What is going on!?" The Daimyo shouted in panic. He saw lines of samurai drop like pebbles and he shivered in fright.

"There's been an attack, Daimyo-sama," Souji said calmly. "It's time to get you to safety," he said, his eye cutting along the rows of enemies on the rooftops. He looked to the other side and saw Naruto using his 'one inch murder' technique with a trail of dead bodies behind him.

"We ain't got time ta waste. Get the Daimyo ta safety!" Ryo shouted, spotting a massive crowd of troops in the distance.

"There's about a thousand there…" Souji breathed in disbelief. "We've only got about 200 men left. Reinforcements from the base would take about 20 minutes to get here…! Damn!" he cursed. He coughed up a glob of blood. _'Now's not the time, damn it!' _he thought urgently. He grabbed the Daimyo and nodded to the man. He was about to start running, but he turned around on reflex, to see a blade heading right towards the Daimyo. He quickly pushed the noble to the ground.

"Keisuke!" Souji shouted. He had only met him a few times but he was on speaking terms with him before.

"Don't get in my way," Keisuke growled. He glared at the Daimyo on the ground. He raised his blade and a stream of fire danced around it as he went to assassinate his target. However, he couldn't as Souji, who had drawn his blade, deflected the strike.

"Ryo, you get the Daimyo somewhere safe for now. The older man nodded and kicked the horse's carriage over with a grunt. He put the Daimyo behind it and ordered some men to watch it from behind. "You'll have to get past me!"

Keisuke snarled. He was still pissed about his sister's job in this and he had somebody to take it out on. He held his blade in front of him with his legs spread out evenly in a balanced position.

Souji held his blade above his right shoulder and had his legs bent low. They rushed at each other and their swords clashed. Fire extended of Keisuke's sword and Souji's eyes widened. The young captain ducked, and appeared in Keisuke's guard, swinging his blade in a horizontal arc. "Three piece thrust!" he yelled, the attack nearly took Keisuke's head off, but he leant it back just in time.

Growling, Keisuke stepped forward and Souji watched him with eagle eyes. However the young captain's eyes widened when the Keisuke he saw vanished and appeared right in front of him. Souji raised his arm in front of his face, where Keisuke's blade was heading and gritted his teeth as Keisuke's ignited blade connected with his arm guard.

'_Fuck, this arm is out of use now' _Souji thought. He quickly pulled his arm away from the blade and hopped away, creating space. He felt his arm's burns and winced. He also saw a lot of blood dribbling down his arm. _That could have taken my arm off. If that was Ryo or Naruto, it definitely would have. I have to be more careful!'_

Souji grasped his sword in his good arm and glared at Keisuke. Giving a battle cry, he rushed at Keisuke and Keisuke mirrored his actions. Souji thrust his blade at his opponent, aiming for his chest but Keisuke dodged it, stepping to the right. Souji's blade followed him as he dodged and Keisuke clashed blades with him again. Fire danced off Keisuke's blade as their blades were locked but now Souji knew better and Kicked him away with a front kick.

Keisuke stumbled back and Souji's sword glowed blue. He swung it and a wave of chakra flew out of his blade. Keisuke fell on his ass to avoid it and rolled back, standing up with a spring on his step, but he was forced on the defensive again as Souji rushed at him, his sword blurring. Souji's blade was practically invisible as Keisuke froze, blood sprayed out of 4 different parts of his body.

Both of his shoulders and both of his knees had stab wounds in them. The attack that Souji used sacrificed power for speed and focused on neutralising key body parts needed to fight. Keisuke winced in pain and he saw Souji rush up to him and deliver a killing blow on him.

The blade approached him in slow motion as he thought his last thoughts. _'Wow, I really fucked up. At least you're alive, though, nee-chan. Be happy...' _

Or so he thought. Those weren't his last thoughts at all.

He felt a tug on the back of his shirt and he stumbled backwards, causing the blade to miss but not completely. His face was skimmed and he was left with a cut that went from the right side of his jaw to the top left of his forehead all in one sleek line.

"Wow, Keisuke. You messed up. It doesn't matter, though. I guess we'll be off now, we can't afford to lose you," a silky smooth voice said from behind him. He recognised it as Shinbei's and his eyes widened. The man had a deep gash on his arm his arm. He immediately looked over to where he was fighting before and saw a heavily breathing Naruto with a diagonal cut down his torso. It wasn't bleeding that much, though but the cut wasn't exactly shallow.

He noticed Naruto's facial expression which was an animalistic snarl. He must have been pissed off.

Shinbei abruptly vanished with Keisuke in his grasp, leaving an irritated Souji. You didn't run away from death, you faced it like a true warrior! If you were defeated in a life and death duel, then your life belongs to the victor.

Souji coughed, the action tearing through his body and forcing him to choke out a lot of blood.

This sickness was really taking its toll on him.

* * *

**With Ryo**

"Men!" he roared, causing all the samurai that heard him to approach him. They had sorted out all the rebels that were disguised as civilians. A lot of them weren't properly armed since they couldn't carry all the weapons that they wanted so it made the job a lot easier.

Ryo looked around, there were about 200 samurai here and about 800 incoming. They were close now. The range where you could effectively fire a bow.

"The rebel army is approachin'! We're outnumbered but we ain't outmatched! Fire your bows!" He yelled. The archers got at the back, There were only about 50 of them. That was enough for now. They all fired at exactly at the same time causing a rain of arrows to descend onto the enemy. Only about 20 people were killed, but it was enough for now. Ryo noticed arrows coming towards them, but he wasn't going to have that. Mirroring Naruto's actions from earlier, he rushed forward and planted his blade into the ground and pumped wind chakra through his blade, running and creating a massive wall of wind. All the arrow blew away harmlessly.

"200 men vs 800 men…? That ain't right," Ryo smirked. "I gotta go all out I guess!" he shouted. He reached into his haori and pulled out a scroll. Unsealing the contents, he had two saké bottles out, held between his fingers.

"Hahahaha…" he laughed quietly. A few of his samurai gave confused expressions. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he laughed maniacally.

"What is he doing?" asked a young man. An older man who remembered the last war paled.

"No… that's too much!" he shouted.

"What?" a random guy from the crowd. The man looked at Ryo with a fearful gaze.

"During the last war… the war between Iron Country and the Blizzard country… the war that united the two Samurai countries into one, there was said to be a demon. He earned many titles: the god hand, the shinigami, but most importantly… **the Drunken disaster. **He was just a normal samurai who happened to be very skilled and he was just out of his teens, but when he wielded a sword under the influence of alcohol, his inner demon was released. An insane, ruthless, monster. He killed thousands in that war, Hundreds of soldiers all by himself. He was a legend. Feared by everybody, even his comrades. He was Sasaki Ryo, the son of another legend, Sasaki Kojiro!"

Ryo pulled the plug like lids off the bottles of saké with his teeth and then proceeded to pour the contents of both saké bottles down his throat and the same time. Not spilling a drop, his gulped it down until they were empty.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he bellowed. He grabbed his sword and held it up so the tip was pointing at his mouth. He slowly slid the blade down his throat, making even enemies stop to watch in morbid fascination and disgust. He finally reached the guard of the sword and flames were visibly spurting from his mouth.

He pulled it out slowly like a splinter and revealed a glowing red blade.

"This blade here… is ignited by the flames of hell!" he roared. "Let me show you it! Let me show ya hell!" he cackled.

His body slumped forward like a puppet with the strings cut off on the top. He stumbled forward, slowly and unsteadily in a drunken haze. He took a few staggering steps forward. An image of the devil appeared above him. Red skin, an uncovered muscled body. The devil's face was angular, had piercing yellow eyes and horns on his head. His ears were pointed and a sadistic smile was painted on its features.

And then he _disappeared._

Ryo appeared right in front of a man right in front of the pack. He got right in he man's face, the stench of alcohol making the man wince. He gave the man a cheeky smile and then he collapsed on to the ground.

Or so the man thought.

On the ground, Ryo sliced the man's feet off and caused him to collapse. Ryo rolled forwards sloppily, grabbed the man's mutilated body and launched him into the crowd of warriors, knocking them down.

As Ryo stood up, he twirled around and cut down 3 people in the process. He fell forward, but before he could touch the ground, he shot off as insane speeds and disappeared again and appeared in the middle of a crowd of people. At the path he travelled, people fell down, being murdered. brutally.

Ryo started sloppily hacking at people one by one, but no matter how much they tried to retaliate, they couldn't touch him. They fell one by one being murdered before they could do anything.

"DIE! DIE! DIE!" Ryo cried, basking in the violence and blood. He thrust his sword at a man who was frozen in fear, but it disappeared and sliced him in half by the body instead. Ryo stopped and hobbled forwards pathetically as a bunch of men rushed him. As soon as they all sent out their respective attacks: thrusts, slashes and stabs there was nobody there and their weapons found their way into their comrades. Little did they know, Ryo had jumped up and was bringing his red hot blade down on them all to finish them off.

He looked around. There were still hundreds of enemies. He as he stood in his own little circle, holding his sword behind his neck.

"I ain't got a clue why my men ain't helping me," he remarked loudly, making all his people snap out of their trance and rush at the rebel army. His voice had a slight slur as he was drunk. "But now's the time ta stop playin' 'round."

Ryo stabbed his blade into the ground and fire blazed off it. "Cerberus… WAKE THE FUCK UP!" he yelled. From the ground, a column of fire rose and formed into a dog with three heads. Ryo jerked his blade backwards and the massive flaming dog pounced, annihilating a massive group of people and then disappearing.

The rebels cowered in fear.

Ryo grinned and staggered forwards.

* * *

**With Naruto**

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he saw the stance. Throwing all caution out the window, he rushed forward and Shinbei smirked.

'_Foolish' _he thought as he drew his sword at insane speeds, expecting to have killed Naruto. However, he looked down and saw Naruto crouching on the ground very lowly. Naruto made to slash at his thighs but Shinbei jumped highly over the attack…

and on to Naruto's sword.

He kicked the teenager in the face, expecting him to drop his blade, but Naruto simply rolled backwards and stood up. Without a shred of hesitation, Naruto charged forward, bringing his sword down in a downwards arc. Shinbei scoffed as he prepared to counter attack but was surprised when a blade came from below, aiming at his neck. He stepped backwards, avoiding the attack comfortably. He retaliated with a upwards, diagonal slash, but his sword hit nothing but a mirage as Naruto was already crouching low in a spin, trying to cut off Shinbei's legs.

It didn't work.

Shinbei blocked the blade with a metal plate on the bottom of his geta sandal and Naruto used the centrifugal force to spin the other way and rise with a ferocious, twirling slash at his upper body.

Shinbei Narrowly dodged the attack, but it cut his top slightly. Not relenting, Naruto charged at him, sending a vicious round of slashes.

Horizontally, vertically, diagonally, Naruto tried everything but Shinbei was dodging them and deflecting them with ease. Naruto's frustration was growing. Shinbei's defense was perfect, there were no openings whatsoever. How was he supposed to beat him?

'_Stupid...' _Naruto thought, _'I have to make openings… but how am I going to do that?' _

He smirked as he thought of an idea. Mustering up all the speed he could, he appeared behind Shinbei back to back. Shinbei noticed this immediately and turned around whilst swinging his blade. Naruto did the same, waiting for the precise moment that their blades clashed.

Closer.

Closer.

Closer.

It was time. Naruto felt their swords make contact, their swordsman spirit clash and the adrenaline pumping through his body.

And then he dropped his blade.

Shinbei's eyes widened as he overextended his strike and knocked Naruto's katana away somewhere in the distance… Naruto judged the distance perfectly and kept himself just outside of the range where their blades would make contact with their bodies. Naruto rushed forward, grabbing his wakizashi and using a rapid battojutsu to attack Shinbei who immediately reacted and jumped back, but not before getting a deep gash on his arm.

'_This kid is crazy… that was risky as hell! I've never seen anybody fight like that before. His reaction time is crazy. He waited for our blades to touch to slow down his momentum. I'm not sure if he's stupid or a genius. I guess I'll have to use that...'_

Shinbei slid his blade back into his sheath got into a stance. He stood completely neutrally, knees bent and put his hands crossed over on either side of his waist, both touching a katana's hilt each.

His body swirled around in a strange way and he yelled, "Twin dragons!" he drew both of his katana at the same time, both heading to different angles one coming to his waist and one coming to his head. Naruto's eyes widened as he threw his body back, but the tip of one of Shinbei's blades caught him and left a diagonal slash on Naruto's torso.

"Shit!" Naruto growled. He gripped his wakizashi and Shinbei looked on at him, surprised.

"Seems I underestimated your speed. You're the first person who has ever dodged that… but alas it is time to say farewell, I'm sure we'll meet again!" Shinbei sang.

"Wait, you don't run from a fight!"

"But you see, I have to save my friend now. It was nice speaking to you but…" Shinbei vanished before he could finish the sentence. Naruto snarled. That pissed him off more than anything. To run from a fight, didn't he have any honour? To risk your life on the battlefield. That was the purpose of a warrior.

So where did this bastard get off by running away?

Naruto growled and looked to the other sites. His eyes widened when he saw Ryo's fire attack, cerberus tear through the enemies and how injured Souji was.

He knew that if the fight had continued, he would have lost and that only made him feel angrier.

It wasn't over, not by a long shot.

But now wasn't the time. He had to help Ryo, vanishing and appearing next to Souji he nodded to him.

"Are you okay?" he asked, spotting the blood that his friend had coughed out.

"Y-yeah," Souji lied with a smile. Naruto spotted the lie and narrowed his eyes. He didn't say anything, though.

"That's good. Is your arm okay?"

"No, but I can still fight," he said unflinchingly. Naruto sighed he knew that his friend wouldn't back down. No he never ran from a fight, even in his condition. His sense of honour was strong.

"Alright, let's just help Ryo until reinforcements come. We could get rid of them before that. It seems that none of them are that skilled," Naruto said. Souji nodded.

"One second, I need to get my sword," Naruto said, jogging off in the direction of his discarded katana. Souji snorted, what the hell did Naruto try to lose his sword all the way over there? He fought down the urge to cough. He had to be strong for now; there was no time for rest.

Watching as Naruto returned with his sword in hand, they nodded at each other and shot off into battle.

* * *

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Three figures were cloaked in the shadows as they ran past all the chaos of the battlefield in the direction of the loyalist base. They were all fast, very fast and moved a refined grace that only an accomplished warrior could have.

The shadows dropped and revealed the appearances of the figures. The first woe was Setsuko. She was wearing the same clothes as before. She had a disconnected look in her eyes as she ran.

The next figure was a man in his twenties. He was wearing a grey kimono and grey hakama that were tucked into boots. Around his neck, a leopard skin was slung around his neck and he had a five foot nodachi attached to his back. He had severe facial features; a chin that resembled a butt, lazy stubble and tanned skin. his black hair was tied in a knee length ponytail and he had a single scar running from his forehead to his chin. This was Okada Izou one of the most skilled swordsmen in the rebellion.

The last figure was wearing a straw hat with a veil that covered his face, if you looked closely enough, though, you could see white hair spilling out from behind. He was wearing a blue kimono with white hakama and had blue arm guards on his arms. He had the standard katana and wakizashi tucked into his belt. This was Kirino Toshiaki another high ranking member of the rebellion.

They rushed on for about 10 minutes, avoiding sight from the loyalist samurai until they reached the government building that was the loyalist base.

It was time.

A lot of the troops were out as they were being sent as reinforcements and the whole base was in a panic. Now that their attention was diverted it wasn't so hard to infiltrate the base.

They looked at each other and nodded, vanishing in their separate ways.

* * *

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Chaos.

Dead bodies were everywhere. There were at least 150 loyalist dead bodies and there were about 700 dead bodies of the rebels. The last 50 or so loyalist troops faced down the last 100 rebel troops. Suddenly the sounds of rushing could be heard from a distance.

"Tch, took long enough to come," Naruto grumbled covered in blood from head to toe. He had a few cuts on him, but no big injuries. He was breathing quite heavily.

"They had to come across the city in a massive group. They couldn't come as quickly as you could on your own. They also had to prepare themselves," Souji explained. He was in a pretty bad state. He was breathing heavily and he had a lot of blood and cuts on him.

"Excuses," Naruto scoffed. He eyed the rest of the troops. "They could have come in smaller groups or something. Most of our comrades are dead and now there's no point in them being there. Master can take the rest out by himself."

"Maybe, maybe not but in the grand scheme of things, 200 men are nothing. If I recall correctly, you have killed over 200 men today," Souji said.

"Now is not the time for a philosophical debate," Naruto scowled. "The shitty old man is doing everything by himself, maybe we should give him a hand?" he suggested, looking at Ryo who was twirling through the crowd, cutting down people as he went. Bodies fell and Ryo laughed maniacally.

"No, I think he can handle it himself," Souji said, pressing his lips together.

"So this is the true strength of the drunken disaster?" Naruto whistled.

"You've never seen him like this before? He's your master."

"Nope, he's never really needed to. None of us were strong enough to force him to use it. Still, he told us about it, but seeing is believing, eh?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Souji smiled. He then coughed up a glob of blood. Naruto eyed him from the side.

"You don't have to hide, you know? Everybody knows that you're sick. I'm just not sure if they're aware how sick you are."

"I'm fine. I may be sick, but I can still fight and I will fight," Souji said stubbornly.

"I think you should get Jinpachi or Megumi to look at you," Naruto said with concern.

"No, there are more important things to do!"

"Whatever," Naruto muttered. _'I'll get somebody to do it regardless'_

They watched as Ryo cut down the last man and the reinforcements arrived. Ryo was standing in the middle of massive group of dead bodies completely covered in blood. The red liquid dripped off his blade that he was holding loosely in his hand. He looked up at the sky almost lifelessly.

"Hahahaha," he laughed lowly. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he burst out. He sounded completely insane. He carried on laughing like crazy as he looked like a demon.

After about two minutes of making everybody feel uneasy, his laughter died down into a big grin. He slowly sheathed his blade and then he clutched his head in pain.

"Damn it," he winced. "I ain't done that in years," he complained. He looked around and saw all the dead bodies.

"Shit, I need ta learn some restraint,"

* * *

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The medical area of the base was completely full to the brim. Injured men were everywhere.

A short old man with a walking stick walked through it with one arm behind his back, looking at all the patients he had. There was a scowl on his face and he had a thin moustache above his lips. His face was wrinkled and he was seemingly unarmed. This was Myojin Jinpachi, captain of the third squad.

He spotted Naruto come through the door and approach him.

"What can I do for you, boy?" he said. He liked Naruto. He was a fun kid who wasn't stuck up or arrogant and he was strong, especially for his age.

"Souji is being a stubborn ass. Can you spare somebody to look at him. I'm really sorry, but I can't force him down here," Naruto said genuinely apologetically. There were many wounded and every hand counted.

"It's no problem lad. Take Megumi-chan."

Naruto grinned, scratching the back of his neck. "Thanks old timer. I'll return her as soon as possible."

"Respect, brat. Jinpachi-sama to you."

"Conceited old man, more like. You're worse than master," Naruto teased. His wrist was grabbed from behind and he suppressed the urge to flip whoever touched him and looked behind him to see Megumi.

"No time to mess about, let's hurry," she said quickly. She dragged him by the wrist and Naruto 'eeped' girlishly in surprise.

Jinpachi just shook his head and went back to treating his patients.

There were a lot of people who were complete messes. Stab wounds, missing limbs broken bones. There was everything there. He treated his patients for about half an hour before noticing that there was something wrong.

He snapped his head to the side and saw somebody walk through the door wearing a conical hat with a veil. Without a word, their sword was drawn and they rushed at a group of wounded, cutting them down. Jinpachi's eyes widened and he blurred forward in an insane wave of speed, appearing right in front of the mysterious attacker. His picked up his walking stick and drew a blade from it.

"I don't know who you are or what you are doing here, but today is the day you die," he said murderously. The figure didn't respond and instead, opted to run away. Jinpachi growled and matched his speed even with his much smaller stature.

The figure ran out of the door and Jinpachi followed, seeing lines of dead loyalist samurai within the base. Jinpachi growled in his pursuit and rushed at the man. The man jumped out of a window and Jinpachi literally barged through a all landing outside.

From upstairs Naruto heard the commotion and looked out the window to see the scene.

"Holy shit, something is wrong!" he said. He looked at the scene and saw two more figure appear behind Jinpachi but he was none the wiser. Naruto gritted his teeth and jumped out the window.

"Jinpachi, look out!" Naruto yelled. He appeared in front of one of the attackers as he landed on the ground and blocked a strike with his sheathed kana. However, he couldn't do two things at once and JInpachi was cut down by a nodachi.

Naruto saw Jinpachi's small form fall on to the ground his eyes widened in horror. He turned his head to see who he was locked blades with and he saw…

Setsuko.

And just like that he froze. Megumi, Ryo and Souji jumped from the same window to engage the other attackers: Okada Izou and Kirino Toshiaki.

Naruto saw Setsuko's eyes, were those tears forming? he didn't have time to wonder as she kicked him away and just disappeared, leaving a trail of droplets. Toshiaki and Izou followed suit disappearing into nowhere.

"Damn, we should pursue!" Naruto shouted.

Megumi was about to reply, but she was interrupted.

By an explosion.

They looked back to the building and saw the base cave in and the foundation fall. They gaped as the building fell over. There would be survivors but a lot of people would die.

The injured.

The sick.

The innocent.

Where was the justice in that? They claim to be making a better tomorrow. How? By making today worse? By killing the people that they are fighting for?

Hypocrites.

Naruto seethed in anger.

Is this what the rebels were willing to stoop to? Terrorism? At least the Daimyo wasn't in that base.

This was not a good day.

* * *

**Who expected Ryo's... alcoholic personality change. I've been waiting for a while to make him go all out and now was the opportunity. I'm sorry if this chapter was a total clusterfuck, but a lot was going on at the same time. I didn't expect to update so quickly, but I did so...**

**Feel free to review ^_^ It'd make my day!**


	9. Chapter 9

Naruto mindlessly swirled the sake in his saucer as he stared into the distance.

It had been three days since the attack on the Daimyo and things were finally settling down a little. The aftermath of the battle was not pretty. The citizens of Iron were rightfully frightened and were cautious to go out. The tactics of the rebels were very extreme and often got the public involved. People shouldn't be scared to take their children out because they may see and assassination. The war was causing mass amounts of unrest.

The Daimyo was infuriated by the attack on him and pledged support to the loyalists.

The attack on the base was very effective. It managed to eliminate a good portion of the loyalist troops and cause quite a lot of panic. If the Rebels were willing to go to such lengths, where were the Loyalists really safe? That's what a majority of the troops thought and it made their morale suffer.

Overall, the Rebels lost more men on that day, but they did manage to take out a captain and that was a major hindrance. Jinpachi was a well liked man and a good captain. Losing him was a blow to the loyalist troops for sure.

Megumi had taken over his role as the 3rd captain and was adapting quickly. She already did a large portion of work for the squad anyway.

After seeing Setsuko at the scene of the murder, his emotions were all over the place. He knew it was going to happen. He thought he had accepted the fact that they were enemies but he hadn't, really. He was angry. He was sad. He was frustrated. He didn't know what to do and he didn't know what he felt. He was so conflicted.

"Naruto," he heard a voice say. He looked up and saw the people who were with him. Souji, Ryo and Megumi. They were on a break because they hadn't stopped working since the incident. The person who had spoken was Souji.

"Yeah?" he answered, blinking, Souji gave him a concerned look.

"What's wrong with you? You never play around with saké… you're just as bad as Ryo," Souji said, smirking at the last jab.

"S'cuse me? Who says I'm bad?" Ryo protested. Everybody deadpanned at him.

"You're not being serious are you?" Megumi said almost disbelievingly.

"Jus' cos I can drink everybody under the table, don't mean I'm an alcoholic," he argued.

"Drink under the table…?" Megumi breathed with a strange look on her face. _'Kinky...'_ she thought inwardly. She noticed everybody giving her flat stares, already knowing what she was thinking.

"Heh, Megumi-chan, I'll let ya drink me under the table if ya really want," Ryo remarked with a wink. She rolled her eyes.

"No, you're too old for me," she said with a grin. She turned to Naruto and latched on to his arm. " I prefer… younger men," she purred. Naruto's cheeks turned pink at the hint. "Oh, getting flustered, are we? You're so innocent, virgin-kun," she giggled.

An irritated look passed across Naruto's face. "I'm not a virgin, you tease," he scowled. Everybody rose their eyebrows.

"This is news ta me," Ryo said jovially. "Blondie-chan, you never told me you became a man. They grow up so quickly!" Ryo wailed with crocodile tears running down his face. Naruto ignored his master.

"Where are the others?" Naruto asked, finally sipping from his saucer.

"They're so serious," Megumi pouted. "If they were here, we wouldn't have a chance to have fun. It'd be war this, war that. We need a break sometimes, you know?"

"Eh, I don't work as hard as all you. You all have to do paperwork and stuff. Not me, I hate that stuff," Naruto said with a grin. He was glad he didn't have much responsibility. He did help Souji with his paperwork quite often, but it wasn't an obligation so he didn't always have it looming over his head.

"You might have to in the future," Souji spoke up weakly. Naruto glared at him, sending him a silent message with the glare. _'I hope you're not giving up' _the look said. Souji returned the look, making Naruto's lips twitch in satisfaction.

'_Hell no,' _was the reply sent.

"I mean, you're the most likely candidate to take over as a captain if me or Ryo are rendered out of action," Souji informed his friend. "You're probably stronger than me as I am at the moment."

"I was always stronger than you," Naruto scoffed.

"What was that?" Souji gritted out.

"I said, I was always stronger than you, So-chan."

"Your memory must be fuzzy from all the times I beat you down."

"Geez, you can't even count? I've beaten you more times than you've beaten me, you bishie boy!"

Electricity passed through their eyes.

"What was that, you flake?"

"You hard of hearing?"

"Oh?" Ryo interrupted. "So this was who you had sex with, Naruto. I ain't gonna interrupt ya lover's quarrel."

Naruto saw Megumi from the corner of her eyes licking her lips and he ignored it, not even wanting to know what she was thinking. Smoke poured from his eyes as he glared at Ryo. "Fuck you!" both Naruto and Souji spat at the same time.

"Both of ya are so feisty. I bet ya fought over who was gonna be on top for so long," Ryo chuckled, picking up a saké bottle and looking it over before gulping it down. Naruto growled and grabbed the bottle whilst it was still in Ryo's mouth and tipped it higher so Ryo was struggling to keep up with the amount of liquid he was consuming.

Ryo finally finished it and much to Naruto's disappointment, he didn't choke. So Naruto decided to make things simpler. He took the bottle and whacked it over Ryo's head grinning in satisfaction as swirls appeared in his victim's eyes.

"Learn to shut up next time, you sleazy old geezer," Naruto said with a hint of victory in his tone.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Setsuko stared at the moon whilst sitting in a tree. She was on her own because she needed some time to think.

She had just killed injured people who couldn't fight back. She killed medics who weren't even involved with the war. She felt horrible but at the same time did not regret it. Her resolve was steeled, she knew what she was in for and she would do it. She knew the consequences of her actions. She knew that she did a lot of things that were wrong.

So why was this so hard to accept.

Her conscience was in conflict. Why was she even fighting? It was so Iron country could prosper. So everybody could live a better life.

That's what she told herself anyway. If she kept on telling that to herself then maybe she would start to believe it.

In truth, this was about something completely different. It was to rebel. To rebel against the country that just let her father die; the country that didn't do anything about it, just let it happen.

She couldn't get revenge; she didn't know what her father's killer even looked like so she did the next best thing. She rebelled against the people who let it happen in hopes that it would never happen again. So that maybe, with a new system, nobody else would have to feel the same injustice that she felt.

But was it worth it?

That look of hatred Naruto gave her when she locked blades with him during the attack was permanently engraved in her memory. His eyes were darkened and his features were almost feral and she could have sworn his whisker marks were more like tiger stripes.

It vanished as soon as it appeared and was replaced with a look of shock, anger, heartbreak. They both knew that they were on opposite sides, but it seemed that neither of them had fully accepted it. Setsuko thought she had but she had been disillusioned. It seemed the same way for Naruto.

She loved him, she loved him so much but they were both so far gone. They couldn't turn back. Not now.

She listened to the sounds of crows squawking in the background and a lone tear dribbled down her face. What if they were forced to fight? Could she kill him? Was she even skilled enough to beat him? She didn't know and just hoped it never came to that.

She didn't know what she would do if he died. When they were living together with Ryo they always fought over the stupidest things. He annoyed her at first. He bragged, he was just as stupid as Ryo and he teased her to no end. She didn't understand him and just dismissed him as a brat.

Time went on and they slowly became friends as they got to know each other more. It was a small step, but suddenly life became more fun for her even if the dynamic between them didn't change much. They got to know each other more and more, even learning more about themselves in the process.

She soon found that she could rely on him and didn't need to hold up her strong facade around him like she had to for Keisuke and slowly at some time, she wasn't sure when, but unfamiliar feelings started arising. She denied them for so long but they were there in both him and her.

They loved each other.

Not like siblings, not as friends but as lovers and most people would consider it a blessing, but for them it was a curse. And because of this, she lied to herself. She told herself she hated him. She hated him because he was a condescending prick. She hated him because he was an irritating bastard. She hated him because they chose different sides.

Yes, she hated him. That made life easier for her.

However, after a year apart, her feelings grew and grew and she tried to suppress them, but when she saw him later on, she couldn't hold back anymore. She told herself that maybe this one time it was okay to tell herself the truth. To accept reality.

And she did. She made him hers and he made her his for one time. Just one time.

And she found out how good it felt to stop trying to fool herself.

And that's why she couldn't stop trying to fool herself. It was intoxicating, addicting and she wanted to feel it more. if she stopped fooling herself then she would be walking away from her path. No, not walking away. Running away.

She had too much pride to run away. She couldn't do it and she wouldn't. Inwardly, she knew that constantly lying to herself was also running away in a way. Running away from her feelings, but then again she could always lie to herself again and say that it wasn't like that. Even if she knew that it wasn't the truth.

She was caught in a web of lies and she couldn't escape. And as she looked at the settled snow and the bare, almost skeletal, branches on the trees, she wondered how long she could live like that.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto walked into Souji's office, sitting down in front of him. He grinned at his childhood friend who smiled back slightly.

"Yo," Naruto greeted. Souji looked at him amusedly.

"I think I'd prefer a 'Greetings, Okita-taichou'," he said slyly. Naruto snorted at the suggestion. That required respect. Something that Naruto didn't like to show.

"I think I'd prefer if you kissed my ass, thank you very much," Naruto shot back. Souji grinned in response.

"Well it seems neither are going to happen, so tell me, what do you want, you blonde idiot."

"Well I was just coming to tell you that old man Hasegawa called for a meeting later," Naruto informed the captain and didn't make a move to stand up, staring at Souji who had a strange look on his face.

"...Thanks… you can," a small cough escaped his lips. "Go now," Souji said, his face straining even more.

"No," Naruto said simply. Souji went to protest, but broke down in a fit of coughs. He held his mouth, but blood seeped through his hand. Naruto stood up and started patting him in the back and Souji descended further into his coughing fit. Finally, it stopped after about 2 minutes and Naruto gave Souji a stern look.

"Don't hold stuff like that back. Stop hiding it. Everybody knows you're not well."

Souji paused and looked out the window. "It's.. more than that," he took a deep breath and looked at Naruto. "I'm dying, Naruto," he confessed.

Naruto gave him a solemn stare and eventually nodded his head. "I know. I always knew," he admitted. "I just don't know how much longer you have left."

"About three years give or take, but this is war, who knows?"

Naruto nodded and looked into the distance. "Yeah," he closed his eyes. "If it's like that, then the only thing you can do is live life to the fullest for now, eh?"

"Yeah, I suppose so," Souji chuckled halfheartedly. It was a hard pill to swallow, finding out that you'd be lucky if you lived until you were 19 no matter what you did.

"Yeah, so turn that frown upside down, So-chan," he said with a teasing undertone. "You're the closest thing to an older sibling I've ever had, so I don't like seeing you down."

"Naruto…" Souji trailed off. He didn't really know what to say to that. He wasn't even completely sure if he was older than Naruto. If he was, then it was only by a few months. Being considered an older brother was kind of heartwarming. "What about Keisuke and Setsuko?"

"Although the twins were older than me, Keisuke was more like a little brother to me because of how much a wimp he was. And me and Setsuko... aren't like siblings."

Souji cocked an eyebrow but didn't say anything after he saw the expression on Naruto's face.

"Well, I'm happy to be your older brother. Even if you are a brat."

"Is that so?"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

Katsura and Shinbei sat in front of each other with grim faces, discussing the attack.

"It wasn't as successful as I hoped it would be," Katsura admitted. "We only managed to eliminate one captain, even if he was a very skilled one."

"Hm, we underestimated them. The Kiiroi Akuma is more dangerous than I thought. He'll get stronger no doubt."

"How strong is he?"

"Not quite as strong as me, but he will be soon. At this point in time, I'd consider him a high A-rank threat."

"If that's the case, we'll need to get rid of him. And soon," Katsura said seriously.

"Do you want me to take care of it?" Shibei asked with a glint in his eye.

"No, we'll let some other people handle it. We need you elsewhere for now."

"Alright, just make sure it gets done," Shibei said uncaringly. Katsura knew what was best.

"Yes, it will be handled. Tell me, how is Keisuke?"

"He's fine. He's got a scar over his face. It's to be expected. He's not quite at Okita's level yet. However, he did leave Okita a mark in return so that's good."

"Interesting… his potential is quite amazing, isn't it?"

"Yeah, he's a late bloomer, but being forced into situations like these… it's making him stronger."

Katsura gave a nod and stood up, walking away. "I have to do some paperwork. We're getting some supplies from Iwa soon and I have to take care of it," Katsura said. Shinbei nodded and watched the leader of the rebel faction walk off.

There was not a man that Shinbei admired more. He got the job done and was extremely crafty. He could see the bigger picture and was not afraid to reach for it. Sure, he stepped on a few flowers along the way, but ultimately, everything he did was for the greater good.

Shinbei had complete loyalty to him. He made him who he was. Shinbei grew up as a farmer's child. He was poor, he had no money, no fame, no status. He joined a sword school when he was young in hopes of becoming a samurai and was very skilled. He tried to make his way in the world of the Samurai, but there were so many obstacles for a man like him. Nobody gave somebody with no status, no worth any attention and over time he became bitter.

He wasted his life away, drinking alcohol and sleeping with prostitutes, trying to find some worth in his life, some substance. He was a bum. A loser. Nobody cared if he died and he didn't care if he died, either. No matter what he would do, he was never going to amount to anything, so what was the point in even trying? No, it was much better to give up. A life without purpose is a life that is forgotten. Nobody would give a damn if he died, so why should he?

However, one day, everything changed. The day he met Katsura. The day he found a purpose. The day he realised that his life meant something to somebody. He was in a bar, getting wasted as usual, trying to pick up this woman who was clearly married. One thing led to another and there was a massive bar brawl. And he was the only one left standing in the end. The whole bar had been beaten senseless, except for one man who was sitting in the corner watching. That man was Katsura.

He approached Shinbei, praised his skills and hired him for a job. This process repeated itself for about three months, Katsura gave Shinbei jobs, something to do. He found some worth in his skills after all the trust that Katsura placed on him.

Eventually, Shinbei stopped wasting his life away and Katsura gave him a purpose: to fight by his side. And after that day, Shinbei pledged his undying loyalty to Katsura and he hadn't regretted it ever since. His life had taken a better turn and he kept on getting stronger. His strength escalated and he found himself in similar leagues to legends such as Sasaki Ryo, Musashi Miyamoto and Mifune.

And it was all thanks to Katsura.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

All the captains and notable members of the loyalists sat around a large table. Hasegawa was sitting at the foot of the table and everybody's attention was on him.

"As you know, the rebels and the loyalists are not the only factions involved in this war. There are a few smaller, more insignificant factions working on their own accord to bring the country under their own thumb. My squad has handled many cases like this," Hasegawa stated. Everybody was wondering where he was going with this, it was pretty common knowledge.

"However, there has been signs of a new group that my squad alone can't handle. Their name is unknown at this point in time but there are rumours about the leader," he looked around at everybody.

"There ain't no time ta be dancin' around the subject. What are the rumours about the leader?" Ryo asked impatiently. He had an appointment with 5 bottles of sake and his right hand tonight so he didn't really have time to be messing around here.

"That their leader is the son of Musashi Miyamoto," he said, giving a pointed look at Ryo who froze at the information. "His name is Musashi Mamoru and he holds a grudge against you, Ryo."

'_An endless cycle… huh?' _He thought. "... I see. That's somethin' ta be worried about then," he said in an uncharacteristically serious tone.

"Yes, that's were going to need to take this threat seriously. The force's size is at least 500 men. It pales in comparison to the main factions, but if used in precisely the right time and place, during the conflict with the main factions, the threat is very real."

"Mhmm," Ryo hummed. "I'll help."

"That's a bit excessive, isn't it?" Megumi questioned. Naruto saw the look in Ryo's eyes and shook his head.

"No, more likely it's something that Ryo feels that he has to do," Naruto said. Megumi scoffed.

"I don't care if he has to do anything, what's best for the country matters and Ryo is needed elsewhere. To serve your country, that's the duty of an Iron Country samurai," she said stubbornly.

Naruto sighed deeply. "His pride won't let him do that," he said tiredly.

"Surely his pride tells him to do everything to serve his country?"

Naruto looked at Ryo who was spaced out and answered for him, "there's two types of pride for men like him. Like us. His pride as a samurai and his pride as a man. It's not his pride as a Samurai that is telling him what to do right now; it's his pride as a man and ultimately, we are men before we are samurai, not the other way around, so his pride as a man is winning out." Naruto paused. "That's just how it is."

Megumi pouted but nodded in understanding. Men were so stupid and simple minded.

"If that is your wish, Ryo-dono. I'd also like Naruto-dono and some men from squad five to accompany us."

"That's fine by me," Naruto agreed easily.

Souji nodded. "And that's okay with me."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

A man sat crossed legged on the corner of a street sitting atop a blanket to protect him from the snow. He wore a conical straw hat that was tipped downwards so it masked his features. A long, red beaded braid touched the man's leg from the front and his crimson hair was visibly short at the back. He was wearing a torn brown sleeveless gi and darker brown hakama tucked into boots. He watched the world go by mindlessly and looked zoned out.

"Soon, Sasaki Ryo. I'll kill you and it'll all be over. I don't care about this country… only you."

**A shorter chapter with a slower pace here. I guess you guys needed a break from the constant action so I decided to focus on character development this chapter. Honestly, I've been pretty distracted lately and have been doing that thing where I accidentally type in the lyrics of the song I've been listening to unintentionally. Ugh, so annoying. **

**I kind of had writer's block, but that was just because my mind was so congested. I had a brainwave and had plans for another story (Which I won't start until I finish this one) about a non-jinchuuriki (Twin is the jinchuuriki) Naruto who just happens to be sociopathic. The main twist in the story is that Minato kills Tobi in the nine-tails attack. It wouldn't be a neglect story. I kind of just want to see a dark Naruto fic without any bashing and I want to see a truly manipulative Naruto who just wants to see the world burn. Kind of like my favourite antagonist ever, Johan Liebert from Naoki Urasawa's monster. I'm rambling again.**

**Somebody suggested Naruto get a sage mode. I won't lie, I was considering during planning stages but decided against it. However, it could make an appearance if you guys really want. That wouldn't be until after the war, though. **


	10. Chapter 10

Naruto's eyes tracked his opponent effortlessly as he rushed towards him. It was a cold night. The streets were empty, the sky was dark and all the light had seemingly been drained out of the sky. Naruto held his sheathed sword in his hand staring down his charging opponent. As the burly, gray haired man in a purple kimono rushed at him with knuckle dusters rushed at him, Naruto took a small step to the side and his body twisted. The sheathed sword brutally smashed against the man's throat as he had his fist raised for a punch.

The man's eyes went wide and he clutched his throat as he flew backwards. Naruto gave him a dark glare before charging wind chakra through his sheath and watching a pillar of wind extend from it and cut into the downed man.

He stared at the dead body for a second before his head snapped to the side and he heard a whizzing sound. He jumped up, a barrage of kunai appearing where he was standing before. The man who threw them was standing on a roof and looked puzzled.

Naruto appeared right next to him, landing from the jump with bent knees to absorb the shock of the impact. Naruto flashed forward and appeared in front of his attacker in less than a second, his back turned and his sword extended.

The man opened his mouth, shivering and vomited out blood like a fountain. Naruto turned back briefly to confirm the kill. His gaze turned ahead of him, looking at the opposite roof with the gaze of a predator and slashed the air as his blade glowed. A wave of chakra erupted from the blade and a grunting sound was heard in the distance. Naruto jumped over a few roofs and then down into an alleyway. He landed silently behind a masked man and stabbed him from behind, hearing the satisfying sound of a blade impaling flesh as he did so.

He flicked the blood off his sword and slid it back into its sheath with a flourish.

"This is getting ridiculous," he muttered under his breath. The amount of assassins sent after him was increasing more and more. No doubt they'd get more skilled as time went on.

He walked off, his steps leaving bloody footsteps in the snow. He didn't have time for this. He had to get back to base.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto sat in the headquarters, waiting for orders. He didn't have to wait long as Hasegawa walked in the room with Ryo and Souji.

"...What's up?" Naruto asked casually.

"Respect, brat," Hasegawa said sternly. Naruto rolled his eyes and made a 'tsk' sound.

"We ain't got time fa that," Ryo said in an oddly serious voice. Naruto knew why his master was so serious. He had told him about his life.

"You're right," Naruto said with a breathy sigh.

"Right, well I've got some info," Hasegawa announced. "The group is called '**Mukui' (Divine punishment)" **Hasegawa stated with a sideways glance to a distanced looking Ryo. "There are about 600 men, not 500 as we initially thought. There are three big threats in the force: Miyamoto Mamoru, Yagyu Jubei and Nakamura Date."

"Nakamura? I thought they were with the rebels?" Naruto said with a perplexed look on his face.

"He had a falling out with his clan and deserted them," Hasegawa said. "He's strong. Not as strong as you or Ryo-dono, but he's around my level," Hasegawa admitted. He hated to admit that a 15 year old brat was stronger than him, but it was the truth.

"Alright," Ryo said, slapping his knees. "Where's the base?"

"Not in the capital," Hasegawa said seriously. "Just outside of it in a small village. It's about an hour to walk. If they have any scouts, then they'll know we're coming."

"So what's the plan?"

"You and Ryo will go in first on your own. Cause a commotion and buy us enough time to get our troops in there safely."

Naruto frowned. That was incredibly risky. "How long will that take?"

"About 20 minutes, just because we're travelling in such a big group."

"How many men do you need," Souji spoke suddenly.

"About 500," Hasegawa spoke calmly.

"That's fine… I assume you're providing the rest?"

"Yes…" he trailed off."Is that all okay?"

"It's a suicide mission," Naruto said blandly. "It just means that I'll have to try harder."

"I'd do it myself if it wasn't," Ryo spoke up. "It's fine. When are we doing this?"

"Tomorrow night. Be prepared."

Naruto nodded and spotted a flash of a shadow in the shoji door. His eyes narrowed minutely, but it was obviously a comrade. He couldn't tell who it was based on their chakra because they were masking it really well and he wasn't the greatest sensor.

He stood up. "Well, I'm gonna get some rest, then. See ya," he said casually, leaving the other men on their own. He walked out the room and around a corner seeing a flash of dark red.

"Megumi," he said aloud, gaining her attention.

"Yes?"

"Why were you listening in?" he asked her sternly. She hesitated and bit her lip.

"I was worried…" she trailed off. Naruto cocked an eyebrow.

"About what?"

"I don't know. Something just feels wrong." she said, looking away.

"Something is always wrong. Nothing is ever okay… but we'll handle it," Naruto said with a smile and he patted her shoulder. She nodded with a small smile.

"Just come back safe, yeah? And watch over your stupid master for me. He's acting weird."

Naruto's lips thinned. "Well, there's a reason for everything, right?" he said cryptically.

She narrowed her eyes. "So you know why he's acting strangely?"

"Yeah, but it's not my story to tell," he said. She looked into his dark blue eyes for a second before huffing.

"Hm, okay. Just make sure he's safe, alright?"

"I would, even if you didn't ask," he smiled.

She kissed his cheek, making his cheeks turn a little pink and she giggled at his expression.

'_Teenagers...' _she thought in exasperation. She wasn't much older than him, she was 21, but teenage boys always gave the funniest reactions to teasing.

Surprisingly, Naruto was not that affected by it. She couldn't get him fumbling for words. He didn't even show much interest in many women. Maybe he was gay?

A fair share of girls would be heartbroken to hear that. He had a rugged handsomeness about him that enticed a lot of females in squad three.

She watched as he walked off and smiled a little. He was a good kid.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The red haired man from before sat on a chair with his legs crossed over. His chin was propped up on his fist and his clothes looked a lot neater. He had a sleeveless white gi on that was decorated by a blue checkered pattern on one side and he had royal blue hakama on his legs tucked into boots. His beaded red braid hung down to the top of his stomach and his eyes were open lazily revealing them to be a piercing yellow. He had stubble and a vertical scar over his lips.

This was Miyamoto Mamoru. The leader of the Mukui group. His cat like eyes pierced into his subordinate.

"I trust it's done."

"Yes, Mamoru-sama," a young man in his early 20's said. He had Black hair slicked back into swept backward spikes. He had purple eyes with defined tear troughs underneath them. He had two small balls attached to chains for earrings and underneath his lip he had a small piercing. He was wearing a collared purple jacket that was zipped up slightly and he was not wearing a shirt underneath it. He had a ribbon like belt holding up his black trousers and was wearing black combat boots and he had a naginata wrapped in bandages to the side of him.

This was Nakamura Date.

"Good, then, tomorrow, they'll walk into our trap. And I'll be the one to kill Sasaki."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto and Ryo stood side by side. They were wearing armour instead of their usual clothes. It was different to the standard set of the Iron country Samurai, more lightweight.

They consisted of white shoulder guards that weren't so big that they were obstructive, a matching white chest plate and armguards. There were also plates hanging down from the waist, protecting the upper legs. All of this was under a black bodysuit.

Naruto fiddled with the hilt of his sword idly as he looked along the path and at the trees. He turned to his master.

"Let's get going, old man," Naruto declared.

"Yeah, let's go, blondie-chan. We ain't got time ta waste," Ryo agreed, hopping off into the trees. "Try ta keep up!"

"Fucking old geezer," Naruto breathed, hopping after him in a yellow blur.

They travelled through the forest at insane speeds. Naruto was naturally fast and Ryo had years of experience on his side. Naruto noticed that Ryo had a very different demeanour than usual. His face was concentrated and without his silly pompadour hairstyle, he looked much more serious. His black eyes glared forward and his lips were pressed into a thin life.

"You don't have to endure everything yourself, shishou," Naruto spoke softly.

"I ain't endurin' anythin'." Ryo said, not slowing down. "I ain't got no regrets and I ain't suffering. But this is my responsibility. I made this mess and a man cleans up his own messes…"

Naruto deadpanned. "You're the messiest person I know."

"You know what I mean. That's what I taught ya, right?"

"Yeah." Naruto said. "But that doesn't mean you have to do it all alone."

"That's rich coming from you, stupid apprentice."

Naruto glared forward. "What?"

"Whaddya mean 'what?' Ya think I'm an idiot? Keisuke and Setsuko, you barely even talk about them and I know it's eatin' ya up,"

"That's irrelevant," Naruto said.

"No, it ain't. I know you and Setsuko are mo-," Ryo started, but Naruto interrupted.

"Now's not the fucking time." Naruto hissed. "In case you've forgotten, we have a mission. You can play psychiatrist later."

"Disrespectful brat," Ryo scoffed. "Ya may be right, but I ain't forgettin' it."

A slightly uncomfortable silence broke out between them as they jumped through the trees. After 10 minutes, they finally came close to the destination. They nodded at each other as they came out of the trees and ran along the ground next to each other with their arms trailing behind their backs. He knew the scout was going back to the hideout to report their presence.

They knew he was there but left him to report it to the superiors. That was what they were counting on.

They saw a small village in the distance and a small conglomeration of trees just off the path. They ran into it and saw a reasonably sized group of Japanese styled buildings with shoji doors. They wordlessly went off into different directions and Naruto appeared in a tree to scout out the guard.

He had a really bad feeling. There was nobody guarding the place. That was definitely not normal.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Just as planned," Mamoru said, standing up and tucking his blades into his belt. "We'll get Ryo alone. Eliminate his partner. We'll make sure _nobody _interrupts."

"Yes Mamoru-sama," Date said with a roguish grin.

"We'll send in 50 men at first to get rid of him. If that fails, then we'll need you to do it. It should be an easy task for you. We can't use _that _for just one man. We'll use it for the other troops that come to eliminate us."

"As you wish," Date said. "It all comes to end here, eh?"

"On the contrary. This is where it begins, my friend. So many years I have been unable to get over my hatred. I wanted to kill him so badly but I couldn't find it. My life was at a standstill, only replaying that moment through my head again and again. I think that if I kill him, I'll finally be able to make myself move forward." he looked at his subordinate. "I'll finally be able to be the brother I promised you that I'd be."

"But Mamoru-sama, you've done more than enough…!" Date protested.

"No, I've taken you for granted and for that, I'm sorry." he said apologetically. "But for now, I'm going."

And with that, he vanished without a trace, leaving a stunned Date to ponder what Mamoru said.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

Ryo dropped down in the middle of a clearing. He had two sake bottles attached to his waist in preparation for any tough fights. His senses were calling out to him at the moment. His ears twitched as he heard a subtle sound and he held his blade out in front of him in defense.

He felt something behind him and he twirled around, clashing blades with somebody. He saw red hair and yellow eyes and he felt a sense of deja vu as an old scene played through his head.

_**Flashback on**_

_A younger Ryo who had his silver hair in a high ponytail and was wearing nothing but forest green hakama stood over the dead body of a short red haired man. His hair looked like a Lion's mane in it's wildness, Ryo looked at him with an empty look on his face as his sword dripped with blood as he held it loosely in his hand._

"_Ain't nothing ever gonna change," he muttered, spotting a small boy who looked a lot like the person who had just killed. He had tears running from his yellow eyes. He stared at him with a detached expression._

"_You… you killed Tou-san," the boy said shakily. _

"_What if I did? What're ya goin' ta do?" he taunted. The boy clenched his fists and charged at Ryo._

"_I'LL KILL YOU!" he yelled. Ryo looked disinterested and as the boy rushed him, he punted him like a dog in the mouth sending him flying backwards. The boy slowly sat up shakily with his mouth bleeding profusely._

_Ryo walked off without a second glance and the boy watched helplessly as his father's murderer walked away without a word._

"_If ya wanna kill me, get stronger. Right now, all ya are is a dog, not even worth killing. All bark an' no bite." Ryo said, not even turning back. _

_To Mamoru, Ryo looked massive, like a giant. He clenched his fists in the snow as tears dripped from his eyes. _

_A trigger switched in his head, 'Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill,' he repeated mentally like a mantra._

_**Flashback off**_

"Ya followed my advice," Ryo said, looking at the young man. "I can tell by clashin' blades with ya."

"Shut up, you bastard," he gritted out. "I didn't get strong for you. I got strong for me."

Ryo's eyes darkened, "But that strength is gonna be useless six feet underground," he said ominously, kicking his opponent away. "I guess that's one thing you and yer ole' man share in common."

Electricity poured off Mamoru's body and through his sword. "Fuck you!" he yelled, putting his sword in the ground and doing a few hand seals.

Ryo shot forward, not giving him the chance to finish the sequence and his sword twisted in a corkscrew of wind. Mamoru pushed himself backwards, spinning as he did so to dodge the blade and brought his heel down on top of Ryo's head.

Ryo smashed onto the floor, a crater forming as his body sailed onto the ground.

"Who's the dog now, bastard?" Mamoru sneered. Ryo went to stand up, but Mamoru kicked him in the face as he did so, sending him sprawling backwards. Ryo rolled back and onto his feet, blood pouring down his head.

"That hurt like a bitch," he complained. _'Hm, faster than I expected. I'm not gonna hold back, then' _he thought. He unclipped a sake bottle from his waist and gulped some of it down as Mamoru watched in alarm.

The roles were reversed now, and Mamoru was the one who wanted to stop his opponent from powering up. He rushed forward, taking his sword out of the ground as as he did so, intent on stopping him from drinking any more saké.

He appeared in front of him, just in striking range and swung his sword in a horizontal arc. He saw Ryo, swing the saké bottle down to hit him and inwardly scoffed.

So when he saw that image disappear and felt himself get headbutted by Ryo before he could even finish the attack, he was understandably confused.

He stumbled backwards and had to throw himself on the ground to dodge a slash that would have gutted him. Ryo pursued him, aiming for his face with a thrust as Mamoru was downed. Mamoru managed to roll away and quickly stand up. As he got up off the ground, Ryo delivered a sloppy spinning kick to his abdomen, sending him flying away like a bullet and through a few trees. He still managed to keep his blade in his hands though.

Ryo fell forward until his nose was almost touching the ground and vanished in a wave of speed, appearing in front of his opponent who had just managed to stand up.

He stood nose to nose with Mamoru with a sick grin on his face. Mamoru's eyes went wide. _'This man… is the devil' _he thought. He didn't have anytime to do anything, but he felt a wave of concentration and determination surge through him. He spun on his legs and let out a low sweeping kick that Ryo jumped over but followed it up with a slash of his sword all in the same rotation.

Ryo blocked it with his armguard and went to counter attack, but was stopped as Mamoru stepped forward and twisted his shoulder, performing a shoulder barge in the air, dropping his sword as he did so. He was knocked back by a wall of electricity.

"Electric stomp," Mamoru said clearly, huffing and puffing for breath, blood leaking out of his mouth.

"It's not over until one of us dies!" Mamoru yelled, picking up his blade and pointing it at Ryo. Ryo watched as he planted the sword in the ground again and did hand seals.

He didn't stop it as he took the time to drink more saké.

Mamoru grinned as a lightning bolt rained from the clouds in the distance and then a steady stream started electrocuting himself.

"**Electric overload," **he said darkly, electricity pouring out of his body. His eyes were invisible as lightning surged out if them like a tempest and all over his body. Wings made out electricity formed out of his back and he chucked ominously as he picked up his sword.

Ryo had his hair shadowing his eyes and his sword held out in front of his face. The red devil appeared next to him as he started rhythmically swaying.

The time for games was over.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto was alarmed when he suddenly felt a lot of people spread through the woods. They were prepared. Grasping his blade in his hand he completely stopped to listen. He heard the tell tale sound of footsteps pattering on the ground. He jumped high up into a tree with a hop, avoiding being seen by anybody and looked down from his elevated position.

He saw flashes of colour in the foliage and narrowed his eyes. They were just meant for him, they were completely avoiding the battle site where he could tell his master was fighting.

He wouldn't be able to stay here much longer without being seen. He decided to fight this on an open field because once he would be detected, he'd be at a disadvantage in the woods. Spotting a bamboo field, he leapt right into the middle of it and ade as much noise as possible.

He had to get rid of his opponents quickly.

He had to use _that._

He hadn't used it in a real fight before, but now was a better time than ever.

He put on hand on the snowy ground and got into a crouching stance with his right hand holding the blade, pointing forward. He looked like he was about to sprint and also horribly off balance. He waited for his opponents to come and he didn't have to wait long as 50 men surrounded him from every side.

"Give up your life, it's hopeless," a man wearing brown plated armour and wielding a spear said. Naruto scoffed.

"Giving up, is not what I do," he said lowly, so they couldn't hear him. Naruto looked up slowly, and the visage of a snarling sabertooth tiger appeared above him.

Naruto bent his knees a little more

And then he pushed off.

The sound of the wind whipping as he disappeared with a chakra infused push rebounded through the area. He appeared in front of the man who spoke so quickly that he wasn't even prepared.

He planted his sword in the ground and pushed on it with all his upper body strength. He sprung up in a front flip and upside down, he grabbed the sword and brought it down on the man from above, splitting him in half. He landed in a crouched position and then pushed off, disappearing again and appearing behind another man with his blade outstretched in both hands in a crouched position again.

Pushing off again, he vanished and appeared in the same position. This repeated for a while, gaining speed with each push and soon he was nothing more than a blur as he massacred every single man and the bamboo that populated the field.

He didn't have a name for the technique, but it utilised pure leg strength and chakra. After each strike, he landed with his legs in a crouching position so he could use all his leg strength in combination with what was essentially a shunshin. He gained more and more momentum with each strike and he became almost untouchable.

It was more of a technique for taking out large amounts of people, not for one on one fights. Naruto ran off in hopes of assisting his master, but was stopped by a figure jumping from the tree line with a bandaged naginata in hand.

"The kiiroi akuma? How fitting." he said with a murderous expression.

Naruto looked at his opponent. He could tell that he was different to all the people he just fought. He had an aura about him. His black hair merged with the shadows and his deep tear troughs caused his eyes to almost gather up the shadows.

"Are you going to be my opponent?" Naruto asked.

"No, I'll be your executioner."

"Big words…" Naruto smirked. "If you're going to be my executioner, I at least want your name."

"Nakamura Date. And yours?"

"I don't see why you think a 'dead man' has any need for manners, but I'll humour you. It's Naruto."

The two stared each other down with cold eyes.

'_I won't let you down, Mamoru-sama.' _Date thought.

'_Tch, you better keep your head on your shoulders, you shitty old man.'_

**First new chapter in a little while. I've been actually quite busy for a change and I was writing the first chapter for my new fic (which I'll write a few more chapters for before I actually release it.) . Sorry if the action was shitty here; I'm a bit out of touch with it all at the moment because I've been revising for tests and shit. I'm just giving Ryo a little backstory; there'll be one or two chapters dedicated purely to his past in the future.**

**I've been thinking about the pairing for a while now, and I'm leaning towards the 'no-pairing' (Other than the obvious slight Naruto/Setsuko) because they wouldn't really serve any purpose and I suck at romance.**

**And about the move that I left unnamed... I wasn't able to come up with anything without sounding completely pretentious. I sound pretentious enough as it is.**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Reviews are always welcome ^_^**


	11. Chapter 11

**New chapter! I hope it's good enough for you...**

Ryo gave a predatory smirk as he swayed drunkenly from side to side. _'I ain't gonna lose, not now.' _He looked at his opponent. _'10 years ago, I might'a let 'im kill me, but ever since that blonde gaki came into my life and then the twins… I don't want ta die yet.' _He chuckled lowly and his top half fell backwards like he was a puppet with his strings cut.

"Die, you bastard!" Mamoru roared. Lightning stormed through his body and in a streak of blue lightning, he appeared in front of Ryo with his sword swinging downwards. Ryo fell onto his back and the the sword caused rubble to be raised as it hit the ground in between Ryo's legs.

Ryo shot back up in a streak of white and sliced downwards as he rebounded. Mamoru's eyes widened and he dodged it by leaning backwards and then his form seemingly turned into electric blue lightning and shot around to Ryo's exposed back.

Ryo carried on with his motion into a flip as Mamoru appeared at his exposed back, preventing him from managing to hit him. He landed in a crouched position, but Mamoru seized advantage of the situation and shot forward in a set of blinding thrusts at Ryo who still had his back turned.

Without even looking, he managed to mostly dodge the barrage in a set of sloppy motions, what did hit him was taken care of by his armour.

Mamoru went to sent a brutal slash at Ryo's back, but Ryo appeared behind him with his sword poised to strike. Mamoru's eyes surged with more lightning as he appeared behind Ryo with a burst of lightning and now the roles were reversed again. Ryo jumped up high in the air and flipped so he was descending downwards in a spinning motion. Mamoru held his blade downwards and pumped chakra in it, causing blue lightning to surge through the blade. He brought it up in a wide arc and a vicious crescent of electricity shot at Ryo.

Ryo didn't hesitate and his spinning form coated in wind, lessening the force of the attack and he shot down like a twirling tempest, driving his blade into the ground where Mamoru previously stood.

Mamoru grunted as he shot back, causing the ground to be lifted up as he charged away. Ryo tore his blade from the ground and in the same motion, made a wide slash at Mamoru. Mamoru watched as it came closer and stepped to the side to dodge it, but abruptly threw his head back as a vertical slash appeared on his forehead and then dragged down to his stomach as the blade managed to completely miss his face, neck and chest,.

'_This is his manipulation of killing intent' _Mamoru thought. _'It's almost impossible to get rid of killing intent directly. He re-directs it. Genius. I hate to admit it, but this bastard is good.'_

Ryo's black eyes glinted dangerously as his sword was touching the ground and grinned.

"Groovy!" He slurred with an infuriating grin. "That lightning shit makes… makes… your react... able.. no.. ive.. ah yeah-tions reactions snappier eh? I ain't had a fight like this in years!"

"Shut up!" Mamoru growled. "You think this is a game! You killed my father! He was weak and you still killed him! I will kill you!"

"Hehehehe," Ryo chuckled. "That's tha spirit! Take revenge! Kill me if ya can!"

"Bastard," Mamoru muttered, raising his arm slowly and pointing it at Ryo. Ryo felt a surge of chakra and before he could react, a beam of lightning shot out of Mamoru's arm. Ryo went flying out through the foliage, grunting in pain. Mamoru pursued him, looking like a bolt of lightning as he surged forwards and inhaled deeply, letting out a bestial roared that caused blue lighting to cascade out of his mouth like a raging waterfall. Ryo stopped flying as the beam neared him and thinking quickly, he flicked his blade through the ground causing a small and slightly weak barrier of wind to erect in front of him.

The lightning hit the wall of chakra being weakened quite a bit, but still penetrating it before it hit Ryo, destroying his chestplate.

Ryo panted as he got up shakily. He heard the sounds of fighting echoing through the area and deducted that Naruto must have been fighting somebody. He swayed, still drunk as he looked at his opponent.

"Oh are your comrades arriving?" Mamoru said uncaringly.

"Dunno, don't care," Ryo slurred. Mamoru smiled chillingly.

"Oh but you really should," he said with a cold tone.

"What?"

"500 men, that's a lot of men to lose in an instant."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Hasegawa led the troops into the entrance of the forest. A large group of Samurai were behind him, all wearing the customary armour of Iron country. He turned back.

"Stay as quiet as possible," he commanded. They weren't being stealthy about this, but as much time as they could buy as possible would do them all well, "We need this to work out, for the safety of Iron country, for the safety of our families and for an end to this war."

His eyes hardened.

"We do this, or we die trying, failure is not an option," the men all gave a miniscule nod.

"Let's go," he said, charging through the snowy woods, all his men flocking behind him. They ran for about a minute, before Hasegawa noticed something wrong. He felt a massive buildup of chakra and he heard a low hissing noise from underneath the ground.

'_Shit! This better not be what I think it is!' _he yelled internally.

"MOVE!" He roared, pushing chakra into his legs and vanishing in a shunshin, thinking that his men would to the same.

He appeared in at a distance from his usual point and watched in horror as the other men did not make the same move as him.

It was not pretty.

Like a horde of ants, hundreds of men scurried around the area helplessly as their leader vanished. The hissing noise got louder and they all realised what situation they were in. Like a switched was triggered, they all panicked. Some did leaping dives, some tripped over and some screamed in fear.

It was all futile.

The first explosion wracked through the area and Hasegawa could feel their fear, their pain. The earth was brought up and men were thrown through the area.

"HELP!" he heard a man cry, but he couldn't do anything. He was their leader and he still couldn't do anything. He could only watched as they heaved in pain, squirmed and cried.

He was a failure of a leader.

The first explosion led to more and more, like an invasion force destroying a town full of defenseless civilians, the explosions kept on booming, sounding like uproars of sadistic laughter. Hasegawa felt the shockwaves hit him as the whole area erupted in flames, blood spraying and all of his troops being annihilated without any discrimination.

How could he lead his men into a death trap like this?

Flames trampled through the forest, evaporating any traces of his men and even he wasn't immune to the shockwaves as more hit and he was eventually thrown back, but wasn't harmed. really.

How could he think of himself when he had lead his men into a trap like lambs to the slaughter?

Men with bright futures, loving families and _life._

All taken away in an instant.

And Hasegawa, despite the situation, couldn't help but think about how fragile a human life was.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

Ryo watched the explosion with wide eyes, all his drunken behaviour seemingly forgotten. He turned to Mamoru who had a cruel look on his face.

"How do you think you got info about us?" Mamoru said with a smirk. "We leaked it and led you into a trap. I knew you would come as soon as you heard my name." He looked in Ryo's glaring eyes. "How did you not notice all those exploding tags? We painted over them and we distracted you with the lack of guards. That's how."

"Your comrades are dead. And you're next!"

Ryo looked at his opponent with darkened eyes. Killing intent poured off him like smoke from a kettle as his glasses dropped from his face.

"You… fuckin' wet behind the ears brats like you need to learn not ta piss off the wrong people."

"It doesn't matter, bastard! You're gonna die soon!"

"Maybe! But not today!"

The only sound that was heard were the sounds of the fight between Naruto and Date and the crackling that came from the lightning off Mamoru's body.

Ryo, seemingly recovered from his drunken state, stood up straight and then held his sword downwards and his legs were straight along with his whole body.

"**Sakki Ryuu ougi…" **Ryo said with a very dark undertone.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**With Naruto & Date**

Date and Naruto stood in the edge of the bamboo field. Date's bandages off his Naginata dropped, and it was exposed in its full glory. It was taller than Date himself, who stood at 5"10. It was wooden like a staff and had a blade that was just over a foot long.

"Don't you think a naginata is a rather feminine weapon?" Naruto asked with raised eyebrows, his cold look dropping.

"Feminine? Absolutely not," Date said, his aura enveloping his body.

"Alright, then," Naruto said with a grin. "I can't argue with you if you have so much conviction."

"Mamoru-sama wants me to win and I won't let him down!"

"Well, I can't let down the old man, either, so enough talking."

Naruto held his blade downwards at an angle with one hand resting on the hilt and another one grasping at it.

'_His range is massive,' _Naruto thought as he watched Date start to spin his naginata. Deciding to test it out, he took a small step forward, before blasting at full speed towards his opponent. Date watched in almost slow motion as Naruto got closer.

'_Now!' _Naruto thought as he threw himself back, immediately changing direction. The blade sliced through where Naruto previously was.

'_Just as I thought.' _

Naruto lowered his stance into his **Sakki no Yajuu Ryuu **stance and watched his opponent keep on spinning the naginata with graceful moves.

Naruto channeled wind chakra through his blade, making it glow blue with a faint hum. He swung it, unleashing a crescent moon shaped slash of wind chakra at Date. Date spun his naginata in front of him in a cyclone and Naruto could feel the chakra he used.

'_Now!'_

Naruto pumped chakra into his legs and bolted forwards. In less than a second he was upon Date whose naginata was still spinning. Naruto made a calculated swing with his blade and as the naginata span, his blade made contact with it, stopping it in its tracks. Naruto expected the weapon to be sliced in half, but it was simply knocked the other way, Date not letting go of it and spinning with it.

Naruto went to follow up the attack and thrust at Date who spun around before Naruto's blade could come close to hitting him and sliced through him like butter.

Only for his young opponent's form to shimmer away and for Naruto to appear behind him, ghosting through him like a phantom. Naruto swung backwards to meet Date in a clash of weapons, Date hitting with the back of the staff of the naginata and him swinging around with his blade. Their weapons came closer and eventually clashed, causing a massive shock wave to pulse through the bamboo fields. They recoiled, but Naruto quickly recovered and Date continued his spinning. Naruto blazed forward, his blade ready to thrust, Date was perfectly ready to defend, but his eyes widened as he tipped his head back, avoiding a slash instead of a thrust, the thrusting Naruto nowhere to be seen.

Date pulled back, but he had a long cut on his cheek where the chakra conducting sword brushed.

"Wind spear," Naruto said, holding his blade out in front of him in one hand. A pillar of wind chakra extended out of his blade and Date hopped to the side as a gash appeared in his side and he ran through several one handed seals. A fair amount of blood dripped out of it, but Naruto paid no notice as he swung the wind chakra enhanced blade to the side with a flick of the wrist. A wall of snow covered earth erected front the side of him, being sliced in half by the wind, but giving Date enough time to roll forwards.

Date grasped the naginata in two hands, ignoring his pain. He held it above his head and stepped forward as he slashed downwards. Naruto's eyes widened as he noticed the naginata getting seemingly longer and he pivoted on his back foot to dodge the attack. He went to grab the extended naginata in the hand, but he was hit in the face by a pole growing from the sides of the staff.

Naruto was knocked back onto the ground. He idly felt a high usage of chakra in the background and wondered what the hell was going on.

"What the hell?" Naruto asked, wiping some blood from his mouth.

"This naginata… I can manipulate it. I can make it longer, denser, less dense, I can create extra poles to come out from it… I'm out of your league."

"We'll see," Naruto said, springing up. His blade glowed with chakra and he charged at Date with a grunt, going as fast as he could so Date couldn't utilise the range advantage with his weapon. Date's eyes widened barely as a blade flashed past his face, waist and legs in an instant. He recovered from the shock quick enough to deflect a violent slash from his side with the base of his naginata. Naruto quickly recovered, too and slashed again brutally, cutting down some surrounding bamboo in the process. Naruto's moves seemed untamed and bestial, but held a calculated control about them that suggested that he was using his head and any faults you saw in his technique didn't actually exist.

Slash. Deflect. Spin. It was an intricate dance of death as Naruto tried to murder his opponent and Date tried to gain some distance to utilise his weapon.

Date was gifted with an opportunity as he deflected a slash from Naruto, sending the boy recoiling back a bit. A hard pole shot out from the side and buried into Naruto's stomach, making him slide backwards.

Date took full advantage of the situation and slashed at Naruto's face as he slid, but whilst sliding, Naruto threw himself on the floor, dodging the decapitating attack.

As Naruto fell backwards, he held his blade in front of him and a spear of Wind shot out of it that was dodged by Date. Naruto landed on the ground and breathed heavily and sat up a bit, his eyes not leaving Date's panting form.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and slowly got up. He saw Date rushing at him and he went to step back, but his back hit bamboo. His eyes widened as Date went down to swipe at his legs with his bladed staff.

'_If I get hit by that, he'll take my feet off. Damn it, I don't have enough time to dodge.'_

There was only one thing to do.

As the blade neared Naruto like a blood thirsty animal, Naruto's legs kicked into motion. His feet swiftly moved forward in a small, frantic step.

Contact was made.

Date's eyes widened as Naruto was thrown upside down in the air and the young man released his katana mid-air.

'_He let himself get hit by the pole instead of the blade so his legs didn't get cut off.' _Date thought as he watched Naruto, still upside down in the air clasp his wakizashi that was still on his possession upside down. Naruto looked like a bat as his eyes were intense and he hung upside down. Naruto drew his blade and before Date even had time to process what was happening, the blade was already in front of his face.

'_Not here! I can't die! I must live for Mamoru-sa-... no Mamoru-nii-sama!'_

**Flashback on**

"_Again!" A gray haired man yelled sternly. he was wearing gray robes as he looked coldly at the two young boys ahead of him._

_They both had Black hair and one had blue eyes where the other had purple. They were wearing white training kimono and had bokken in their hand._

"_Good Shirusuke." The man said, praising the blue eyes boy. "You… boy. Not so much." he eyed his purple eyed son in poorly veiled distaste. The blue eyed boy, Shirusuke, gave his brother an apologetic look._

"_Date-nii, try again next time!" he said optimistically. Date smiled softly._

"_Shut up, Shirusuke. You don't have to give him false hope. I don't expect much better than worthless from him, his mother being who she was, a worthless peasant. That being said, I would like a little better than worthless, so try a little bit harder please."_

"_But Otou-sam-," Date said, but was glared at._

"_Don't call me that. Call me Nakamura-sama. No child of mine is a failure." _

_Date bowed his head silently, but not before he looked at his father briefly with eyes filled with complete malice. Something that the old man did not fail to notice._

"_You dare look at me like that boy? Get outside now and you'll sleep out there."  
_

"_But it's snowing!" Date protested. The old man was upon him in an instant, causing Date to flinch and the young boy received a ferocious back handed slap that knocked him onto the floor with a crash._

"_I may wish I was not your biological father, but you live under my roof and obey my rules, you understand!?"_

"_Yes, Nakamura-sama," Date said with his head held low. He slowly stood up and walked out the room, clenching his fists._

_Shirusuke watched with downcast eyes as his older brother was sent away. He noticed the lone drop of water hitting the ground as Date walked away._

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

_The cold air slashed at Date's face violently, the darkness suffocated him and the snow bit at his feet ferociously._

_But the boy couldn't find himself to care. _

_There was only one thing he could feel: loneliness._

_What did he do to deserve that bastard's hate? He was the one who slept with a lower class woman. He was the one who got her pregnant and he was the one who kept him around. If he had the choice, he'd just run away. He hated it here. He hated them. He hated his life. _

_He wasn't good with a sword like his half-brother, Shirusuke, he was a disappointment, an embarrassment._

_He hated it do, do much. He looked up into the sky wistfully. If only his mother was still here. She'd make him feel all better. She'd make him feel loved. Shirusuke had a mother, why couldn't he have one? He looked so happy. He wanted to feel that happiness._

_He was jealous of him. Shirusuke always acted sympathetic, but he never did anything to help him. He could burn in hell like the rest of the clan for all he cared. _

_Burn in hell… that didn't seem like such a bad idea. _

_After all, fire made you warm and he was sitting here in the snow, cold._

_He'd have to get stronger…_

_Date stood up and looked around. There was nobody around. It would be so easy… so easy just to leave right now, but then what would he do? Then again, what would he do staying here? Life was hell and he'd be alone either way, just if he left he wouldn't have to deal with this._

_With that thought, he stood up and scurried away, not a possession in hand or a plan in mind. He walked off into the abyss of darkness, the air growing more frantic and the moon no where in sight. The whole area was silent except for a lone bird fluttering in the distance aimlessly._

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

_A younger Mamoru, who was 16 years old, walked through the thick darkness with a sigh. He didn't know where the hell he could find an inn. There was nothing here. He was wearing a travelling cloak over a fur jacket with black trousers and boots. His red hair was loose and long, reaching his mid back and covering one eye._

"_Well, I guess I'm going to have to keep on moving," he murmured underneath his breath. "Strong opponents be damned, I'm not dying because I couldn't find an inn."_

_He was looking for the Nakamura clan so maybe he could challenge the head to a duel. He had to get stronger and fighting strong opponents was his way of doing it. Then he could kill that white haired bastard. Get stronger? He definitely would, no matter what the cost._

_He carried on walking, taking note of his surroundings. All he could hear was the rhythmic sound of the snow crunching underneath his feet. The cold didn't seem so bitter anymore. There was nobody out, everything was asleep._

_This peace continued for another five minutes as Date enjoyed the silence, almost forgetting about his hatred for a while. Maybe it wasn't so bad tonight? His ears twitched as he heard another sound. Was that somebody dragging themselves? His eyes flickered to the side as he focused and saw a small boy emerge into his line of sight._

_His eyes widened._

_He was dragging himself along the floor like a stray dog. His top was waterlogged with melted snow and he looked pale and weak. He rushed to the boy's side and picked him up, cradling him like a baby. He saw weak purple eyes look up at him with a slight bit of hope and a bit of fear._

"_Fuck," Mamoru cursed. His eyes softened as he looked at the kid. He was reminded of himself, crawling on the ground with nothing left and blood pouring from his mouth. "I can't just leave him here. I don't know where a doctor is in this village…" he eyed the place. "I'll take him to the one in the last village I went to." Mamoru said, making a decision. He could always just drop the kid off somewhere. He couldn't get stronger if there was a kid tagging along with him. He took off his travelling cloak and wrapped it around the boy after removing the soggy top._

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

_Mamoru sat, watching the kid as he stirred awake. It had taken him an hour to rush to the last village and the doctor was kind enough to let him stay the night. Now he could just check if the kid was alright. Maybe he could get him back to his home and then be on his merry way._

_The black haired boy opened his purple eyes slowly and felt the warm room. He looked to the side and and with bleary eyes, he saw a blurry outline of a man. He seemed so big and his red hair was warming._

"_What's your name kid?" the man asked. It took Date a second to register the question._

_He yawned. "...Nakamura Date," he said sleepily. The man nodded._

"_Alright kid, we'll stay in the warm a bit. I'll get you some food and clothes and take you back home."_

"_No!" The boy protested, now completely awake. Mamoru blinked at the sudden change of attitude._

"_Why not?" _

"_...Because I don't want to go back to that place." Date murmured, looking down and twiddling his thumbs._

"_Oh, why not?" Mamoru asked with a raised eyebrow._

"_...Because my father hates me. I'm not good with a sword and I'm a disgrace to the clan. He makes me sleep outside." He snapped his purple eyes that had small tear troughs to Mamoru and gave him a desperate look. "Please, don't make me go back!"_

_Mamoru looked at the boy with a blank face for a second, the boy almost flinching underneath the teenager's scrutiny. Eventually, Mamoru smiled reassuringly and put a hand on his shoulder._

"_If that's what you want, who am I to say no?" He paused. "What do I do with you, though?"_

"_I… I don't know," Date said, clenching his fists. "I want to get stronger, are you strong?"  
_

_Mamoru smiled. "I'd like to think I'm quite strong," he said. "But I can't take you. I want to get stronger myself."_

"_Couldn't… you teach me how to use a sword?"_

"_I could, but I don't want to. Plus, you said you were not good with a sword. Have you ever thought to try something else?"_

"_No… but still! I want to go with you!" He said pleadingly. This man was the only man who had ever been nice to him before. It made him feel warm and he wanted to feel it more. Maybe he could only feel warm around this man?_

"_I don't know anything about taking care of a kid. I move around a lot. That's no way for a kid to grow up. I'll take you to an orphanage."_

"_No! They'll just find me again. Plus, I'm 10, I'm not a kid!" _

_Mamoru glared into his eyes for a while. Those eyes, they had seen more than any 10 year old should have… just like his. He could relate to this kid, kinda. He wasn't abandoned, but he was on his own and he was weak. He knew what it felt like. Maybe, just maybe, getting stronger could be held off for a while._

"_Alright," Mamoru said with a sigh. "You can tag along with me."_

_Date smiled, the first true smile to come on his face in a long time._

**Flashback off**

**With Ryo and Mamoru**

Ryo glared forward. **"Sakki-Ryuu Ougi," **he said. His sword slowly rose in his arm and he appeared on Mamoru in an instant Mamoru went to defend, but the Ryo that appeared was a phantom.

Mamoru saw Ryo, still in the same position, thrusting something in both hands, but there was nothing in his hands at all.

"**Phantom murder!" **he announced.

Ryo shot forward with insane speed, Mamoru went to dodge with his enhanced reflexes, but found himself frozen in place as he looked at Ryo's eyes that flashed white briefly.

His eyes went wide as his heart jumped into his throat.

The invisible blade came close, so close that he could feel it brush against his face.

'_Not now!'_

His head was thrown back at the the last second and he collapsed.

Ryo was wide eyed.

'_He dodged it? Ain't nobody done that before!'_

Mamoru panted on the ground with blood running down his forehead. Ryo stood over imposingly, looking more like a devil than ever.

'_What was that? I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't see his sword.'_

His lightning diffused from his body. A pit formed in his stomach as he heard a grunt and turned his head to the side to get a look at something that he didn't like at all.

That blonde companion of Ryo's was hanging upside down and he was drawing his blade at Date.

He saw it in slow motion. The blade flew out the sheath, aiming straight for Date's head. It made contact in a fountain of blood.

Mamoru looked wide eyed as tears ran down his face. Ryo was about to finish him off, but he vanished before Ryo could touch him.

Mamoru appeared right next to Date's body. It was already dead. His eyes were wide open and glazed over from what he could see under the blood. He gritted his teeth angrily and glared at Naruto who had collapsed, landing on his back. The blonde haired teenager just returned the gaze with detached eyes. Mamoru turned his eyes to Date as tears kept on falling, all the contempt vanishing from his eyes as he looked at his downed friend.

'_You were my anchor. You kept me from descending into madness… if it wasn't for you I'd be drowning in my hatred. You reminded me I was human. You taught me to feel, to give me a purpose that wasn't filled with hate.' _Lightning surged through his body. _'I lost myself, but you stayed with me. I wish I could have been a better brother to you. It's my fault… all my fault.' _He idly felt Ryo appear near him and looked up with shadowed eyes.

"It's not over." He said as he looked at Ryo and Naruto and vanished in a shunshin, leaving lightning behind. Naruto stood up.

"Should we go after him?" Naruto asked. Ryo shook his head.

"Nah, we ain't got any men left and he's got a lot more in there. Let's just go." Ryo said, looking in the sky. "We might find some survivors from the blast."

Naruto nodded as he sheathed his wakizashi after flicking the blood off it, picked up his katana and did the same to that.

"Yeah, let's stay on guard."

**Right, well that's that chapter done. The Ougi will be explained soon as to what it actually did. I wasn't all that confident in these fight scenes, but I tried my best. The end of Naruto's fight was inspired by one of the earlier chapters in Gamaran. **

**Feel free to review ^_^ it would make my day and I don't bite =)**


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